


Escape Velocity

by wildheartsneverdie



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Blow Jobs, Established Relationship, First Time, Frottage, Galo and Lio are such idiots, Hand Jobs, Internalized Homophobia, It's more like this plot can have a little porn (as a treat), M/M, Porn with (a lot of) Plot, Porn with Feelings, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery, Road Trips, So much kissing, and they deserve each other, implied/referenced past trauma, its mostly just very soft, sword fighting as flirting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:13:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23404303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildheartsneverdie/pseuds/wildheartsneverdie
Summary: “It’s not so bad here.  I can think of worse places to be.”  Lio nodded up toward the night sky.  “But you can’t see the stars at all because of the light pollution.”Galo stared upwards.  “Looks the same as always to me.”Lio scrutinized Galo closely.  “Have you ever been outside Promepolis?”“Nothing but the wastes out there!  Why would I leave the best city on Earth?”~~~~~~Lio promised to take Galo stargazing.  It only took three years for him to make good on that promise.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 28
Kudos: 95





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio needs a vacation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really just wanted to write something about these two falling in love and being happy together. So I came up with a plan where I got to write both! This is also my first foray into writing smut.

△△△ Zero Hour △△△

“Through spark and flame, I got your back.” Galo declared his intentions to the sunrise.

For a moment, Lio gave him an odd look, then he grinned. “You truly are an idiot.”

“Yeah! Universe’s #1 firefighting idiot!”

He held his fist out and Lio knocked his much smaller fist against Galo’s knuckles. Even though he was covered in soot and scratches, Lio’s expression softened into an unguarded smile. Galo momentarily forgot how to breath.

“We got through this. Together.” Lio lowered his fist, breaking the connection. 

Galo grinned and threw his arm over Lio’s shoulders. “We saved the world, Lio. Together!” 

△△△ Present Day △△△

Galo set the Promepolis Coffee Co cup down on the Lio’s brand new desk. Coffee with oat milk, no sugar — just the way Lio liked it. At first, Galo hated the idea of Lio moving his office out of Burning Rescue Station 3 to the newly built Burnish Recovery offices — but that meant he could just surprise his boyfriend with coffee now! Even if technically, both of them should be off the clock at this time of day. Lio’s passion just kept him at his desk sometimes. (Plus, his boyfriend was a workaholic.)

Galo leaned over Lio’s desk, admiring a drawing of a geometric fire design. A tiny little person stood next the fire sculpture to show its scale. “How’s your paperwork coming?”

Without even looking up, Lio took the coffee and sipped it. “Mm. Thank you, love.”

Galo swelled with pride. That’s right, Lio called him a pet name!

Gueira snorted from his perch on the edge of Lio’s desk. “Pfft. What was that?! When did you two get so sappy? You’re calling him ‘love’ now?”

Lio fixed Gueira with an unamused gaze and took a long sip of his coffee before answering. “Galo is my love, why shouldn’t I call him that?”

“Yeah, Gueira! We’re experimenting with nicknames!”

“Boss. That’s so—” Looking distressed, Gueira glanced over at Meis, currently slouched down in one of the spare chairs in Lio’s office, for back up. 

Meis looked up from his cell phone. “It’s nice.”

“No, it’s not!” Gueira spluttered. “It’s making my stomach churn. You’re going to start wearing matching sweaters next!”

Lio shoved Gueira’s butt off the edge of his desk. “Quit being over dramatic. You call Meis ‘babe’ all the time.”

“That’s because he’s a babe!” Gueira planted his hands firmly on his hips.

Meis gave a short laugh. “Thanks.”

A chiming noise interrupted their conversation and Lio swore as he snagged his cell phone off his desk. “It’s the attorney. I need to take this.”

All three fell silent as Lio got to his feet and took his cell phone out into the hallway where he wouldn’t be overheard. Never being one to stand still for long, Galo leaned over Lio’s desk to look at the paperwork he’d been filling out. Some kind of application for the Burnish memorial for those who had died in the Parnassus incident, but other than that, Galo couldn’t make heads or tails of it. 

“How’s that going?” Meis asked, nodding toward the hallway.

“Oh…” Galo scratched the back of his head. Lio had tried explaining the legal battles over the recovery of his family’s money, but it was kind of technical and boring. “Not great. Even if he’s been cleared of all charges, the assets are still seized.” Galo stuck to words he’d heard Lio use.

“Shit, man.” Gueira picked up a stress ball off Lio’s desk (a gift) and tossed into into the air, catching it easily. “He’s got too much on his plate. The memorial, all the other recovery programs for the former Burnish, and this on top of everything else. You better be good to him.”

“I’m the best to him.” Galo assured Gueira.

Lio stormed back into the office, tossed his phone onto his desk and flopped down into his chair. He stared up at the ceiling as if he could burn a hole in it with his glare. Maybe he was trying to.

“Bad news?” Gueira asked as he tossed the stress ball into the air again.

“It’s the principle of the thing! The government stole from my family!” Lio exclaimed, sitting up again. He let out a sigh of frustration. “And it’s not just me, they stole from all the other Burnish while we were on the run.” He pulled the paperwork closer and grabbed a pen. “Anyway, we could use the money. Could fund some educational programs or something.”

“Isn’t it time for you to go home? Stop worrying about shit!” Gueira bounced the stress ball of the top of Lio’s head. Lio caught it and winged it back at him, striking Gueira right in the face. 

“It’s basically my job to worry about everything.” Lio squinted at the paper, lifting it up off the desk. Galo cleared his throat and muttered something about glasses which earned him a glare.

“Isn’t this the third time you’ve submitted this proposal?” Meis stood up and took Gueira by the elbow, guiding him back to extra chair next to his own. Instead of taking the empty chair, Gueira sat in Meis’ lap and Meis looped an arm around the redhead’s waist, continuing whatever he was doing on his phone.

“The Parnassus crash site is a crater now. They should just let us use it. I don’t see why they keep making me fill out paperwork.” Lio grumbled. 

“They can’t keep saying no to you, Lio. If you just giving them that paperwork over and over and over again, eventually they’ll change their mind!” Galo encouraged. “You just need to keep going. Don’t give up!”

Instead of looking cheered by Galo’s words, Lio’s expression went wide-eyed and grim. He shoved the papers across his desk.

“Why don’t you run for office and then you can approve your own proposal?” Meis suggested.

Lio clicked his pen a few times before answering. “I spent a good chunk of my life fighting the establishment, I can’t just join it.”

“Oh!” Galo exclaimed. He’d just had a really great idea. “You can join the city council. Then all you need to do is give yourself the money for the memorial, right?”

Gueira gave him A Look and pressed his lips together. What was that for? Shaking his head, Gueira turned his attention to Meis’ cell phone screen.

“I’m not doing it.” Lio rubbed his forehead.

Suddenly, Gueira burst out laughing. “Boss! You’re a meme!”

“What?” Lio looked more confused by this announcement than anything else.

“Show him.” Gueira nudged Meis with his elbow.

“Maybe that’s not a good idea.” Meis glanced over at Lio’s darkening expression.

“No, show me.” Lio ordered.

Meis turned his phone so Galo and Lio could see the screen. It showed two photographs side-by-side. One was the wrapper for a Lio Fotia popsicle featuring a cute rendition of a smiling Lio head and the caption ‘expectation’. The other featured the actual popsicle which was a misshapen messed of lime green and peach colored ice cream with misplaced gumball eyes and the caption ‘reality’.

“It’s gone viral.” Gueira snickered, unable to control his laughter.

“I’m a popsicle?” Lio asked.

Galo burst into laughter as well. “Lio! You’re a popsicle!”

“I’m a popsicle!” Lio repeated, annoyance in his voice. He bolted to his feet and threw his pen onto the desk, missed and it landed in a corner on the far side of the office. “Screw this town. Screw everything! I’m leaving.”

△△△ 64 Hours △△△

Lio lost his shirt at the end of the world. For a few hours, he’d worn a mylar space blanket around his shoulders like a cape as he assisted with the release of the Burnish around the Parnassus crash site — until he gave that away to someone else as well. When Galo noticed Lio shivering (and how could his eyes not seek out Lio’s form amid all the chaos), he brought Lio his Burning Rescue jacket which Lio took with a quiet “thanks”. The jacket fell down over Lio’s hands and he kept having to tug it up to keep it on his shoulders, but Galo’s stomach flip-flopped whenever he saw Lio in that jacket.

Yeah! Lio was meant to be a part of Burning Rescue.

Galo worked 36 hours straight, fueled on a diet of coffee and cookies brought by other rescue workers. Ignis made him take break and Galo caught a few hours of sleep in the back of the Rescuemobile. He’d learned the trick of sleeping anywhere at anytime during his time at the academy. He felt proud of this skill.

Lio worked until he literally passed out sometime after the 48 hour mark. Galo carried him to the medic tent, memories of Lio cold and dead on the ground too near the surface. Then Galo learned that Lio did not like doctors when he woke up, stole Galo’s freeze gun out of the holster and threatened any of the EMTs that dared to get close to him. The stand off ended when Aina yelled at Lio for scaring everyone and reminded him that he needed to be a good role model for the other Burnish especially the children.

After the EMTs forced a very grumpy Lio to eat a protein bar and drink some water, Ignis sent the both of them back to Station 3 for an eight hour break. Lio protested, looking first to Gueira for back up and then to Galo. Lio still looked gray as a grave and white as a ghost, so Galo nodded his agreement to Ignis’ plan.

“No one knows what to do with the kid.” Ignis commented, taking hold of Galo’s shoulder before they left. “We’re releasing Lio into your custody for now. He trusts you.”

Galo had never been more proud in his entire life. Lio trusted him, even Ignis could see that. And Lio was in his custody! He didn’t even know what a custody was!

He took Lio back to the station on his bike, trying very hard not to get too distracted by the warmth of another body pressed against his back. Luckily, they arrived without Galo driving off the road. Galo led the way to the bunk room and tossed Lio a spare FDPP hoodie which he pulled on wordlessly. Almost immediately, Lio took a top bunk, bundled himself up in a blanket and stared at the wall. Galo sat on a bunk across from him, watching Lio’s narrow shoulders rise and fall. Lio had Galo’s jacket folded up under his head even though he had an actual pillow. 

“Lio.” Galo whispered as loud as he could. “Lio, are you awake?”

A long pause. “No.”

“Did you want another pillow?”

“This is fine.”

“You don’t have to use my jacket. I can get you another pillow.” Galo offered.

“Did you want your jacket back?” Lio sat up a bit so he could look over at Galo.

“No.”

“Then I’m keeping it.” Lio lay back down, pulling the blankets up over his shoulders.

Galo got up and retrieved an extra blanket and pillow out of the cupboard for Lio. When Galo draped the extra blanket over the lump under his covers, Lio made a small “mm” noise but didn’t open his eyes. Slowly, he reached out to pet Lio’s hair, but stayed his hand. 

“Lio.”

“Mm?”

“Good night.”

“Galo, it’s almost noon.”

He left the extra pillow where Lio could grab it if he wanted it. Galo retreated to his own bunk, propping his head up on his arms behind his head. When he closed his eyes, Galo saw Kray — his (former) hero, a (current) villain, and (future) criminal locked away for life. His chest hurt so he tried very hard not to close his eyes at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He woke to sound of muffled sniffling. Now that wouldn’t do. Sitting up, Galo surveyed the room. A lump on the top bunk across from Galo marked Lio’s location, but the rest of the room remained empty. He heard the soft sniffle again and Lio’s blankets twitched. This double wouldn’t do.

“Lio.”

Another long pause. “What?” Lio’s voice came out oddly thick.

Any question Galo could think to ask - ‘are you okay?’ or ‘what’s wrong?’ - sounded stupid even to him. Instead, Galo jumped to his feet, closed the gap between himself and the lump of blankets. Lio had retreated entirely under the covers, not even his hair poking out. Galo gently rubbed the blanket lump where Lio’s shoulders should be. “Do you want breakfast?”

“…what?” Lio hiccupped.

“I’ll make pancakes. I’m good at it! Even Remi says so.”

Lio rustled around on the covers, but remained buried. “I haven’t had pancakes in a long time.”

“Come on to the kitchen then! I’ll make you a funny face pancake. Can’t be sad with a funny face pancake.”

Lio sat up, his eye still red from crying. He clutched Galo’s jacket to his chest. “I’m not sad.”

“Oh yeah?” Galo reached up to brush a stray bit of moisture from Lio’s face.

Before Galo’s hand could complete that journey, Lio knocked it away, wrapping his fingers around Galo’s hand as if clinging on for life. “People died. They’re just piles of ash now. I- I couldn’t save them. I’m supposed to be the strongest, the boss, but I couldn’t save them.”

Galo squeezed Lio’s hand. 

“I’m not sad, I’m just angry that this is an unjust world!” Lio exclaimed, fiercely wiping at his eyes with the back of his hands.

“Well, I’ll be angry with you! And let’s fight! I promised to have your back and I meant it!” Galo took Lio by the shoulders. “So I’ll fight until every last Burnish is saved, including you.” 

Lio gave a watery smile and leaned forward until their foreheads touched lightly. “Thanks.”

“You ready for those pancakes?” Lio would definitely smile when he ate Galo’s pancakes.

Lio sat up, nodding. “Yeah. Galo?”

“What?”

With both hands, Lio squished Galo’s cheeks together until he was making fish lips. Lio laughed quietly so Galo scrunched his face up to make him laugh more.

“What’re you doin’, Lio?” Galo asked.

“Funny face pancake.” He released Galo’s face. “You’re right. I can’t be sad.”

“Ha! You haven’t lived until you’ve tried Galo Thymos’ pancakes! One bite and you’ll be begging me for the recipe.”

Lio slid down from his bunk. “Bold words. I’ll have to put them to the test. Now, which way to the kitchen?”

“I’ll show you!” Galo announced, leading the Lio to the kitchenette. He made Lio sit at the table while he dug through the cupboards. They usually took turns cooking, depending who’s on shift at any given time, and bought ingredients accordingly. Lio was in luck as the kitchenette contained everything to make Galo Thymos’ special pancakes.

Galo hummed while he fried some bacon, mixed the pancake ingredients together and poured the batter onto the griddle. He kept stealing glances at Lio who was watching Galo, head propped up on one hand with a wry expression. 

“So what makes it a funny face pancake?” Lio asked when their eyes met.

“You’ll see.” Galo pointed his spatula at Lio. “And no peeking!”

“Am I supposed to turn around or something?”

“Just stay over there until I’m done.”

Under different circumstances (not because he wanted to impress Lio, no way!), Galo would have gone all out in decorating his pancakes. Chocolate chips, whip cream, shredded coconut, maraschino cherries, you name it! Today, he had to make do with using some strawberries for the eyes and nose with strips of bacon for a smiling mouth on top of a healthy stack of pancakes. Complete with a tall glass of orange juice, because pancakes required OJ, and tada! Galo Thymos’ special pancakes.

Galo brought the plate over to Lio and took the seat next to him. “Tell me I’m not the greatest pancake chef ever on this planet. If they gave out awards for pancaking, I’d probably get gold.”

“It’s a face.” Lio commented, picking up his fork.

“Yeah. That’s why it’s a funny face pancake.”

Lio arranged the bacon strips into a upturned triangle shape. “Look, it’s you because you’re shouting all the time.”

“Hah?”

“Eyes are the wrong color though.”

“Well!” Galo used two pieces of bacon to make angry eyebrows over the strawberry eyes. “This is you because you’re a brat!”

Lio’s fork flashed forward, stabbing the strawberry that made of the nose of Galo’s pancake.

“Hey!” Galo protested as Lio popped the fruit into his mouth. “You have your own!”

“Oh my god.” Lio covered his mouth while he talked. “I haven’t had a fresh strawberry in forever.”

Galo stole the nose off Lio’s pancake. “Now we’re even. There’s plenty more in the fridge if you want some later.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“That won’t be a problem later. We’re not eating someone else’s food?”

“It’s just leftovers. They’d probably go bad in the fridge unless we eat them. Come on, Lio, try the pancakes before they get cold!”

Lio gave Galo an odd look, then turned his attention to his plate. Using his knife for some unknown reason, Lio cut a bite-sized piece out of the pancake stack. Galo watched him closely as he lifted it up to his mouth and chewed. He might have forgotten to breathe a little while he waited for Lio’s opinion.

“Galo, this is amazing.” Lio’s face lit up. “I thought you were just bragging.”

“Me? I would never brag. Humble is my middle name.” Galo grinned.

Lio ate his pancakes with single-minded determination. Both of them fell quiet as they consumed their breakfast. Galo had to admit, he’d really outdone himself this time.

“Breakfast for dinner. I could get used to that.” Lio remarked after his plate had been cleaned.

“It’s breakfast for breakfast!” Galo corrected.

“It’s 6 pm.” Lio indicated toward a clock on the wall with his hand.

Galo eyed the clock suspiciously. “But we just woke up, so it’s breakfast.”

Lio frowned as if he wanted to argue with this logic, but Galo jumped to his feet and grabbed both plates. “Gotta take care of the dishes or Ignis’ll have both our heads.”

“I’ll help.” Lio rose to his feet as well.

“I got this. You just sit.”

“No. I’m going to help.” Lio grabbed both glasses off the table with extra force and carried them over to the sink.

Galo shrugged. “I’ll wash, you dry.”

Together, they stood shoulder to shoulder at the sink. While Galo knew his way around a kitchen (a fact which came as a surprise to some people), he’d never been the world’s neatest cook. He scrubbed at the bacon pan in an attempt to get it spick-and-span. Lio made a face like he was thinking Too Much.

“You’re thinking too much. I can tell.”

Lio twisted his dish towel in his hands. After a long moment (probably thinking again), Lio answered. “I don’t really remember what it’s like not to be Burnish.” 

Galo stopped scrubbing to look over at the shorter man. “How old were you when you had your first Burnish flare?”

“Eight.”

“Oh.” He’d lost his parent at that age. 

“The fires always felt like they were singing. I think I could understand what they were saying when I was younger, but somehow that went away with time. It didn’t matter because I always knew what they meant. Burn stronger. Be brighter. Now they’re gone and it feels… lonely. Empty.” Lio admitted the last part quietly. He sounded so lost that Galo wanted to so something, but he was up to his elbows in greasy dish water. “Galo?”

Lio looked up at him. Their eyes meet. “What?”

“Kiss me again?”

“Pfft. What? Again?!” Galo blustered, flinging soapy water everywhere as he gesticulated. “That- That wasn’t a kiss. It was CPR! Emergency life saving measures!”

Lio narrowed his eyes. “You had your tongue in my mouth.”

“You were unconscious!”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Lio’s voice rose with annoyance.

“I had to get the fire in there somehow!”

Lio threw the dish towel down on the counter and gave Galo a look of deep betrayal that stabbed straight into his heart. “Fine. You know what? Fine.” He turned and strode out of the room.

“Lio!” Galo called after him, but the other figure disappeared up the stairs. A heavy weight settled in Galo’s stomach — maybe too many pancakes, maybe the guilt of knowing he’d said The Wrong Thing.

Later, Galo brought up the rest of the strawberries to Lio as a peace offering. Lio apologized for ‘misunderstanding the nature of their relationship’. Galo didn’t know what that meant, so he accepted the apology.

△△△ Present Day △△△

Galo watched Lio as he puttered around in their kitchen. It wasn’t that Galo didn’t trust him in the kitchen, really, it was more like some of Lio’s cooking experiments had gone terribly wrong. He’d never forget (or let Lio live down) the time he added cheese and pickles to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Or the time he’d put ketchup in soy milk to try and make pink milk. What even was pink milk?

These days, Lio’s attempts at cooking were less adventurous, but no one could blame Galo for being a little suspicious. The man still put mustard on steak. This was a crime against all steak everywhere! Lio was lucky the food police hadn’t arrested him yet!

“Here you are.” Lio set down a plate of pancakes and a glass of orange juice in front of Galo.

“Firebug! Funny face pancakes!” Galo smiled back at his pancake. Lio had used bacon for a smile, half a strawberry for the nose, and banana slices topped with a chocolate chip for the eyes. 

“Can’t be sad with funny face pancakes.” Lio squished Galo’s cheeks between his hands.

“Do you hafta do this every time?” Galo tried to cross his eye and stuck his tongue out, feeling pleased when Lio laughed under his breath.

“Indeed.” He released Galo’s face, ducking down to give him a quick peck on the lips before seating himself across the small table from Galo.

“Are you sad?” Galo asked as he picked up his fork.

“A little.” Lio admitted. “Don’t tell anyone, I have a reputation to keep.”

“Your secrets are safe with me.” Galo motioned as if he was locking up his mouth and tossed away the imaginary key.

“How are you going to eat your pancakes now?”

Galo mimed unlocking his mouth. “I always keep a spare key.”

“You’re an idiot.” Lio smiled.

Galo ate the nose off his pancake before Lio could steal it. “You want to talk about why you’re sad?”

Lio took a couple bites of his pancake before answering. “The stuff with my parents’ estate mostly. I hardly remember them and now I can’t even mourn them properly because I have to deal with this.” He stabbed a bit of pancake. “Just feeling sorry for myself.”

Galo reached across the table to rub Lio’s shoulder. “You’re allowed to feel sad. When bad things happen.”

Lio made a little malcontented noise. 

“Or not. But I do have shoulders that were made for crying on, you know?”

“I don’t think crying will make matters any better.”

“It might make you feel better.”

Lio made another unhappy noise. “But I made funny face pancakes.”

“They’re very good pancakes.” Galo took a loud, crunchy bite of his bacon. He knew better than to push Lio — he would deal with this at his own pace. Or he wouldn’t deal with it at all, also an option.

“Next time-” Lio punctuated this remark by eating the eye off his funny face “-I’m going to try making those big fluffy pancakes with mayonnaise.”

“What? No. No no no. Mayonnaise and pancakes do not go together!” Galo protested.

“I saw it on the internet. It’s a thing.”

“That’s not a thing! Remember that time you tried to make scrambled eggs with chocolate chips in it?”

“That should have worked, it just didn’t.” Lio sulked and took a bite of his pancake.

“No! No mayonnaise pancakes!” Even as Galo said it, he knew that if Lio had decided to to do it, gross mayo flavored pancakes were in his future.

After both of them finished, Galo gathered up the dishes and took them to the sink. They’d fallen into this pattern rather effortlessly, after all it made sense. Whoever cooked didn’t have to do dishes. Over the past year or so, Lio had taken over more of the cooking and the unfortunate experiments decreased. There were still occasional outliers - such as mayonnaise pancakes. Galo liked to think that Lio had finally gotten himself a hobby.

While Galo was at the sink, Lio pulled out a road map and began pouring over it, making a list and circling out landmarks on the map. Galo’s stomach dropped when he saw the map, but Lio’s expression was focused. He even smiled sometimes. Lio liked making plans.

Once he’d set the last plate out to dry and wiped his hands on a towel, Galo leaned down behind his boyfriend, wrapping his arms around his upper torso and using his shoulder for a chin rest. “Are you really leaving?”

“That is my intent.”

“Oh.” Galo’s face fell. “The popsicle wasn’t that bad. You don’t have to run away forever.”

“You’re so much better at dealing with this stuff than I am. I hate how much this gets to me.” Lio leaned back into Galo and Galo tightened his arms up, just a little.

“It’s just a silly joke. Just people having a good time.”

“At my expense. Fear me, hate me, whatever. I can handle that.” Lio sighed. “But make a joke out of me? I can’t stand it.”

Galo kissed the top of Lio’s head. “I know.”

“I hate it when people don’t take me seriously.” Lio muttered sourly.

Galo squeezed Lio lightly to show his sympathy.

Lio turned, pulling away from Galo enough that he could run a hand through the other man’s hair. “I thought maybe— Well, I haven’t really had the opportunity to take Detroit out since I had her built. I thought a road trip might be nice.”

“Oh!” Relief flooded Galo’s body. Lio didn’t mean leave-leave, he just meant go-on-a-vacation-leave. “A road trip, huh?”

Lio looked down at his notebook, frowning. “But it’s probably selfish. I can’t really leave at a time like this. There’s too much going on.” He sighed. “It’s nice to dream about.”

△△△ Two Weeks △△△

Galo knew what custody was now. Aina explained it to him. At first he thought it was a dessert Lio really liked, because everyone kept talking about Lio’s custody. (”That’s custard, Galo!” Lucia had laughed herself silly over that.) Custody meant that Lio lived in Burning Rescue Station 3 now and he wasn’t supposed to leave unless someone from Burning Rescue went with him. Lio had one duffel of personal possessions and he slept in the bunk room. Aina told Galo this was a good thing — if Lio just happened to be released into the care of militarized fire fighting agency, who better to keep him safe from the anti-Burnish mobs out there?

“Lio.” Ignis stood framed by the door to his office, hands on his hips. “Phone for you. It’s Heris.”

Lio looked up from the coffee he was drinking as if it was the only thing linking him to the planet earth anymore. “I’ll take it in my office.”

Lio walked over to the storage closet that he had taken over and declared as his office. Galo had helped him move a couple chairs in there the day before and helped moved stuff around so that there was room for the chairs. The Burning Rescue lounge room fell into tense silence after Lio disappeared into the closet.

“Why is Heris calling Lio?” Galo turned to Aina. “I thought Lio called her some very bad names last time he saw her.”

“She’s been putting together a list of the Burnish that were put onto the Parnassus.” Aina answered quietly. “They were all assigned numbers when they were put into the engine, nothing was done by name. So it’s hard to tell who…” Her voice trailed off with a sympathetic glance over at Meis and Gueira.

“Tell who what?” Galo asked.

“Who died, you idiot!” Gueira snapped. Meis reached out and put a hand against Gueira’s arm to calm him. It had been two weeks, but Meis still looked like he lost a fight.

Sometimes, Galo wished he wasn’t so stupid. “Oh.”

“They didn’t even treat us like we were human. Just fuel cells for that ship!” Gueira rose to his feet, advancing on Galo. “And you were with that bastard — all of you!”

Galo jumped up, hands raised, palms open. He felt sick in his stomach and his heart. “I don’t want to fight you, but I’ll let you get one good punch on me. You know, for revenge.”

“You’re not punching Galo.” Aina stepped between the two of them.

“He offered!” Gueira pointed at Galo.

“I offered!” Galo protested almost in unison.

“Both of you, sit!” She put a hand against Galo’s chest and gave him a strong nudge back toward his seat.

Gueira sneered. “The boss might forgive you, but I sure as hell don’t. You won’t see me playing nice with you, not in one million years.”

The door to Lio’s office opened abruptly. “Gueira, Meis. She’s e-mailing me the— Something going on out here?”

“It’s nothing, boss.” Gueira jammed his hands into his pockets and slunk toward Lio’s office. Meis followed after him. 

A short moment later, the door closed again.

“What did you do to piss him off so much?” Lucia asked from her perch on the back of the couch.

Galo threw himself back down on the couch, arms crossed. Aina should have let Gueira punch him. 

At one point in the long blur of time after the Parnassus came down, Lio asked Galo to find Gueira and Meis for him. Actually, it hadn’t been a request so much as an order, but Galo went on a mission to locate the two generals anyway. He’d finally found them spooning on a cot in the medic tent. Meis, who’d been nearly unconscious when they took him out of his cell aboard the Parnassus, was fast asleep in Gueira’s arms. Gueira stroked Meis’ hair while he slept, his expression lost and frightened.

Galo didn’t have it in him to disturb them. He hadn’t realized the two of them were together like that.

So he knew Gueira should have punched Galo. Maybe it would make Gueira feel better, because it sucked when the people you cared about get hurt. When you wanted to protect them, but you couldn’t. Galo definitely deserved to get some sense knocked into him.

“They’ve been in there a long time.” Galo twisted around on the couch so he could stare at the door into the storage closet. Lio’s office.

“Galo, it’s been five minutes. This is a big thing, they need time.” Aina patted his shoulder consolingly.

The Gov- No, Kray— hurt Lio. Was still hurting Lio with the aftermath of his cruelty. Galo wanted to punch himself. He bounced his knee impatiently. 

“I can’t wait anymore! I’m going to lift some weights!” Galo declared as he jumped to his feet. If he didn’t do something right now, his brain would explode.

Varys nodded, clapping Galo on the shoulder. “I could stand getting out of here as well. I’ll spot you, rookie.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Freshly showered after his work out, Galo returned to the common lounge to find it deserted. “Lio, I was going to pick up some pizza. Did you want anything?”

No answer. Lio wasn’t in the kitchenette or the bunk room. He could be out on the roof, but it made more sense to check the storage closet first.

“Lio, I’m getting pizza. Do—” Galo cut himself off as he walked in on something he shouldn’t.

Gueira, Meis and Lio huddled together on the floor. Lio had his head in his hands while the other two had an arm around his shoulders. Meis’ eyes were red from tears. Gueira watched his friends with an expression that was a cross between a frown and a grimace. Galo had barged in on something private, maybe the first time any of them had been able to properly mourn their losses during the Parnassus incident.

Lio lifted his head up and their eyes met. He looked tired and pale, but his shoulders relaxed just a little when he saw Galo.

Gueira jumped to his feet, scowling. “Get out! This is Burnish business.”

And he slammed the door in Galo’s face.

△△△ Present Day △△△

Lio brought a certain softness to Galo’s apartment. When Galo had asked him to move in, it had been the first time since Lio was taken from his parents that he’d had a stable place to call home. (Galo did not count the years Lio had spent growing up in Burnish camps.) Lio purchased too many pillows, brought home weird little things he found at the flea market, and filled every window sill up with houseplants. Before Lio, Galo couldn’t understand the point of having anything past the barest of essentials in his apartment, but now he knew what having a home was like too.

Galo turned his head, pressing his lips to the top of Lio’s hair where he lay resting his head Galo’s shoulder in bed. Lio smelled faintly of shampoo — their shampoo really, but on Lio it somehow smelled different. “You should do it.”

“Hm?” Lio lifted his head to look up at Galo.

“The road trip! You should do it. You’re always working, a break would do you some good! I bet when you come back, you’d write that proposal real good. Best memorial proposal ever!” Galo smiled. “They’d have to say yes to you.”

Lio propped himself on an elbow, reaching up to cup Galo’s jaw. “How’d you know I was still thinking about that?”

“We’re just on the same wavelength, firebug!” Galo declared, kissing Lio’s thumb when it ventured too close to his lips. “As long as you come back to me once you’re done roaming around the countryside.”

“Countryside? All that’s out there is the wastes.” Lio puzzlepieced back down into the crook of Galo’s arm, his head finding its place on Galo’s shoulder. “Besides, I wouldn’t go alone. I promised I’d take you out stargazing, didn’t I? You would come with me.”

“Even better! It’s always handy to have someone who has basic medical training on a road trip.” With his arm that wasn’t functioning as a pillow, Galo reached over and slowly stroked Lio’s hair. “Everyone knows the doctor is the best one in Oregon Trail and I’m practically a doctor. Just call on me if you need to ford the Dalles.”

Lio laughed lightly, the super secret laugh he reserved just for when the two of them were together. “Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I liked it when you called me love earlier.” Galo admitted.

“I think I liked it too. Maybe I am getting sappy.”

“Are you— Are we going to do it then? Go on a road trip together?” Galo ran his fingertips through the short, soft hairs at the back of Lio’s neck.

“I would like that very much, love.”

Galo laughed and, spurred by a sudden desire to touch his boyfriend, rolled over so that Lio was under him, but not pinned. Lio looked beautiful like that with is sweet, floral smelling hair spread out on the pillow under him — small and fragile and powerful and fierce all at once. All these things made up Lio even if Galo would never dare call Lio fragile out loud.

“What are you doing?” Lio asked, vaguely disgruntled at being manhandled. Still, Lio’s cheeks turned pink so he couldn’t have minded it that much.

“Kissing you.”

Galo leaned closer until their lips met. Lio returned the kiss eagerly enough, making a soft noise when Galo’s tongue slipped past his lips. At the back of his head, Galo started a countdown — five, four, three — then Lio’s hands pushed against Galo’s shoulders. In one smooth motion, Lio flipped both of them so he straddled Galo’s stomach, thighs on either side of Galo’s torso. Galo’s dick responded almost instantaneously.

Lio smiled down at Galo, running one hand down Galo’s chest. “What brought this on so suddenly?”

“Nothing much. Just the average, every day desire to kiss my boyfriend.”

“Didn’t you get enough of that earlier?” Lio ran his hands over Galo’s chest.

“Never enough of that, firebug.”

Lio leaned over him, his hair falling forward into his face. “Is that so?”

Lio pressed his lips to Galo’s, kissing until both of them were breathless. Galo traced along Lio’s jawline with his mouth, pulled him closer so he could suck at the soft skin at crook of Lio’s neck.

“Stop that.” Lio said with amusement. “I have a thing tomorrow.”

“Are you so respectable now you can’t wear a turtleneck?” Galo teased.

“Galo Thymos.” Lio sat up in mock indignation. With one hand, he tossed his hair out of his face. “When have I ever worn a turtleneck?”

Running one hand down Lio’s thigh, Galo gazed up at Lio. The soft light coming in through their window glinted off his hair, highlighted the contours of his torso. “You look so gorgeous, firebug. I’m the luckiest guy in the whole world.”

“Sweet talker.” Lio leaned down again, kissing Galo’s forehead, then his nose and then his lips. “I might forgive you for that turtleneck remark.”

“No, I mean it!” Galo gave Lio’s thigh a gentle squeeze. “I still can’t believe it sometimes. And when you call me love, it makes me feel like my heart is going to soar right out of my chest, you know?”

One of Lio’s hands trailed down Galo’s chest, pressing firmly over where Galo’s heart.

“What?” Galo asked.

“I’m keeping your heart from soaring away. I need it.”

“Aw, Lio!” Galo exclaimed. “You are getting sappy! That was the cutest—!”

Lio shut him up by kissing him. “I’m many things, but none of them are cute. You’d do well to remember that.” 

“I’m not remembering anything I don’t want, Li—OOH!” Galo’s voice rose in pitch at Lio’s small hand found his dick and stroked it. “Fuuuck, Lio…!”

Grinning with satisfaction at Galo’s reaction, Lio reached over to the nightstand to retrieve the lube. For once, Galo was glad for his boyfriend’s ‘everything in its place’ attitude. Lio took an unbearably long moment to warm the lube up against his hand before giving a few light strokes. Galo moaned low in his throat, the sight and feel of Lio’s hand on his dick sending shivers up his spine.

And then Lio was over him, his mouth on Galo’s face, his neck, his shoulders, all while his hand continued to work below. Galo pressed up into Lio, eager for more. He tugged Lio closer, kissing him greedily, unable to get enough of Lio’s lips, his mouth.

Lio’s hand moved over Galo, low noises escaping his mouth. His hips bucked into Lio’s hand as he teased the head of his cock. Pressure built inside him, with Lio stoking the fires. “Lio, please—!”

Lio laughed, his breath hot against Galo’s skin which was already burning. He brushed his thumb over the slit and Galo whimpered. “Please?” Lio teased in a near whisper.

“I’m gonna—”

“It’s okay, baby.” Lio ran his tongue over the skin of Galo’s neck. “You can come.”

Galo threw his head back with a cry, his insides filled with something molten. He was so close already, but—! Frantically, he tapped Lio’s shoulder to get his attention.

Lio stopped immediately, looking up. “Galo?”

Still breathing heavily, Galo struggled to sit up a bit. “I want to— With you—”

“I’m okay, you don’t have to—”

Galo shook his head, cutting Lio off. He pulled Lio into his lap, finding the smaller man hard and ready. A full body tremor passed through Lio when Galo ran his fingers over Lio’s erection. “Like this?”

Galo waited for Lio to nod his assent before continuing. Kissing along Lio’s jawline, Galo stroked Lio’s cock, treasuring every gasp his hand drew from Lio. As soon as Lio’s fingernails dug into Galo’s shoulder, Galo added his own cock into the mix, taking both of them in hand.

“Galo…!” Lio panted breathlessly.

Galo didn’t last long, the feeling of them together in his palm overwhelming him. But it was Lio chanting his name — “Galo, Galo, Galo” — softly while clinging to him that truly did Galo in. He continued his attention until he brought Lio to climax as well and then he collapsed backward with a loud grunt. Lio followed after him, kissing Galo repeatedly.

Galo smiled into the kisses, his breath coming back to him slowly. “We should… wash up… huh?”

“In a minute.” Lio buried his face into the crook of Galo’s neck and let out a satisfied sigh.

Petting Lio’s hair, Galo grinned up at the ceiling. Lio’s breathing began to even out against Galo’s skin. “Come on, sleepy boy. I’ll carry you to the shower.”

Lio lifted his head, eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Not a fireman’s carry?” 

Galo did that once. Once! “Not a fireman’s carry. Promise!”

“Okay.” Lio let his head drop back down on Galo’s shoulder.

Scooping Lio up into his arms, Galo carried Lio bridal-style to their bathroom. 

△△△ Two Weeks, Three Days △△△

Lio stared into the fridge of the station kitchenette. He’d been there for a while, not really moving.

“What’re you looking for?” Galo asked. Maybe he could help.

“Did you know—” Lio straightened up as he spoke “— that they make milk out of oats?”

“Oh yeah. Remi drinks that stuff. He’s lactose intolerant and all. Did you want to try it?” Galo asked. Remi would probably kill Lio for stealing his stuff out of the fridge if they were caught, but a little danger made the reward taste all the sweeter.

Lio held up the carton and pointed to the piece of masking tape on it labeled ‘Remi (Do NOT Steal)’.

“We’ll ask later and then it isn’t stealing. It’s just borrowing.” Galo urged. “You’ve never had oat milk before, you should try it.”

Lio opened up the carton and sniffed it. “Do I just drink it?”

“I guess you could. Remi usually puts it in his coffee.”

“Coffee, right. That’s why I came down here.” Lio grabbed the carafe from the machine and refilled the mug that had become permanently attached to his hand. With a sly smile at Galo, Lio tipped some of the oat milk into his coffee before returning it to the fridge. “Guess I’ll give it a try.”

He didn’t even stay downstairs to try the oat milk in coffee. Once his beverage was stirred, Lio buried his nose in the tablet Ignis had lent him and disappeared back upstairs. Lio spent a lot of time on the roof over the last few days. Aina said he needed space and Galo supposed the most space one could get was you alone with stars overhead. But it didn’t seem fair that Lio always had to do everything alone.

“Yoooo. Galo!” Lucia’s head popped up from the console when she saw him walk back into the common area. “Want to help me test something?”

“You know I do!” Galo made his way over to her work station. “What’re you working on?”

“You heard of construction bots, right? This is a deconstruction bot! We’re going to rip the Parnassus to shreds.” Lucia’s fingers waggled over the keys. “Need to test how much metal this baby can tear through.”

“I’m in. I’m very in!” Galo grinned.

“Try not to tear down the station this time.” Remi warned in passing.

“Spoil sport.” Lucia muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Galo knocked on the door to the supply closet to make sure that Lio wasn’t still working at this time of night. Aina had offered to play a board game with them, because the night shift could be kind of boring, and he thought maybe they could try Machi Koro because it was about city building and maybe Lio would like it. Galo knew all the best tricks in Machi Koro and he’d show Lio and together they’d become the undisputed mayors of the best towns in MachiKoropolis. Yup, that sounded like a totally casual way to ask Lio to come hang out with him.

“Lio?” Galo cracked the door open when he didn’t get a response. Completely empty.

He knew Lio wasn’t in the common areas, so he checked the bunk room next. Now that Galo was thinking about it, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Lio using the bunk room for anything other than a storage shelf for his duffel bag. Lio’s bunk was empty, but Gueira and Meis lounged on one of the bunks farthest from the door doing a lot of kissing with a lot of tongue (and he was pretty sure Meis had his hands up Gueira’s shirt). That was definitely against station rules. 

Gueira reached up to run a hand through Meis’ hair and Galo thought, just this once, he wouldn’t worry about the station rules.

He found Lio up on the roof, standing a little too close to the edge for Galo’s comfort and staring in the direction of the Parnassus crash site. Even at this time of night, the site was light up with construction lights as the city worked tireless to tear the monolithic reminder of Kray’s attempted flight-slash-betrayal apart. “We’ll be out there again tomorrow. It won’t stand a chance against us for long!”

“I told Gueira not to say that you again.” Lio stated, voice subdued, as Galo stood next to him.

“Huh?” What exact thing Gueira had said to him, Galo couldn’t remember. Gueira said a lot of things.

“For you to stay out. That this was Burnish business.” Lio glanced over at him.

“Oh… Yeah.”

“You’re the last person I want to—” Lio shrugged. “Stay out, I guess.”

Galo felt Lio’s cheek with the back of his hand which made Lio jump and look at him funny. “Dude, you are freezing. Where’s your jacket?”

“Downstairs.”

Technically, it was Galo’s jacket (still). Aina had dragged Lio out to buy at least one or two changes of clothes, but Lio stil wore the jacket Galo had given him that first night. Galo really, really liked seeing Lio in Burning Rescue colors, so he didn’t ask for it back.

“Surprised you aren’t up here buried in that tablet of yours, Mr. Workaholic.” Galo nudged Lio with his elbow.

“I threw it.” Lio pointed to the screen-down tablet an admirable distance away from them.

“Lio! That’s Burning Rescue property! You can’t just throw it.”

“You break Burning Rescue property all the time!” Lio protested.

“I’m pretty sure you’ve broken more than me if we were to compare our career histories! Why would you just throw it?!” Galo shouted in exasperation. “Ignis lent that to you. You’re supposed to be the responsible one.”

Lio frowned. “I’m having a bad day.” Turning from Galo, Lio walked over and retrieved the tablet. 

Over the past two weeks, Galo had dreamed about finding Lio alone so he could talk to him, but Meis or Gueira were always with him like some kind of bodyguard team up. And he didn’t know if it would matter much anyway as the Lio he wanted to talk to — the Lio who mushed his face and called him a pancake, the Lio who fist bumped him on top of the wreckage of the Parnassus, the Lio who made Galo’s matoi for him out of flame and smiled — had disappeared to be replaced by cool, elegant, all business Lio. Cool Lio was okay, but cool Lio never smiled. 

The Lio who threw a tablet across the station rooftop for mysterious reasons was a new Lio and Galo didn’t want to waste his chance arguing with him.

“I broke it.” Lio held the tablet out to Galo, showing off a cracked screen.

“Let me see.” Galo held his hand out and Lio passed him the tablet. To his delight, the tablet lit up when he pressed the button. “It’s fine. No harm done.”

Lio took the tablet and turned it over in his hands. Then he scowled and threw it across the rooftop again. “I didn’t try hard enough the first time.”

“Lio!” Galo didn’t know if he felt shocked or dismayed.

“I can’t! Get! The stupid file! To attach! To the stupid e-mail!” Lio shouted, his voice breaking.

“That’s what you’re so mad about? That’s easy.”

Lio glared at him like he would stab Galo and murder him with a look alone. He took a deep breath and let it out. “Show me.”

“So, uh… You’re having some troubles with this tablet, I take it.” This time, Galo retrieved the tablet. It had another crack on the screen, but still turned on.

“That’s putting it mildly. I think even Gueira’s fed up with me right now.” Lio crossed his arms. “Usually he helps, but they both took off and said I should get some rest. I have to get this paperwork done tonight and I can’t get it to work.”

“Actually, Gueira’s downstairs making out with Meis in the bunk room.” Galo handed the tablet to Lio.

“Isn’t that against station policy? Ignis was pretty specific about no funny business in the bunk room, the common areas or the garage.”

“Didn’t include the rooftop in that, did he?” Galo laughed, but for some reason Lio blushed. “Bit of an oversight.”

“Just show me how to do the e-mail thing.”

Galo walked Lio through the steps to attach a file to an e-mail and it quickly became clear that Lio had no idea what he was doing where this tablet was concerned. “That’s it? I have to do all that to attach something to an e-mail and send it?” Lio asked when they were done.

“So are you just used to a different operating system or what?” Galo asked. “When I switched phones, I had a hard time getting used to—”

Lio turned to him, stricken. “What’s an operating system?” 

Against his will, Galo’s lips turned up as he tried not to laugh. Lio’s panic was cute somehow.

“Don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m sorry. You’re just really, really bad at this.” Galo used his hands to try to tug the corners of his mouth down. “Maybe we could get Remi to teach you. Or Lucia but she’s only good at showing you stuff she’s personally interested in. You could program a mech in two weeks though.”

“No. No one can find out about this. If people found out I’m incompetent, they’d lose faith in me as their leader.”

“You’re not—”

Lio glared at him and cut him off.

“I could teach you.” Galo offered. Lio didn’t immediately answer, so Galo plunged on ahead. “I know people call me an idiot all the time, but—”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay. Teach me how to about computer stuff like operator systems and e-mails.”

“Okay! I’m going to be the best teacher and you’ll be the best student and you’ll be hacking into super secret files in no time!” Galo could totally do this. “We should definitely come up with hacker names for ourselves though.”

“Galo.”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.” Lio walked over to a small picnic blanket set up against the wall of the entrance back into the station and sat with his knees pulled up. “I’ll settle for basic computer literacy. We can worry about the hacking stuff later.”

Galo followed after him, stretching his legs out. “The ground’s kind of hard and it’s cold. You want to go back down to your office?”

“No. It’s nice for privacy, but it’s too small and doesn’t have any windows. Too much like a cell.” Lio picked up a pebble off the rooftop and examined it. “Spent a lot of time in the Tart back in my Burnish camp days.”

Galo suddenly felt cold all over. He knew about the existence of the Burnish camps, but never really though about the people who lived in them. They’d just been dangerous, faceless beings who’d burn a kid’s house down if they got the chance. Lio had been eight when he turned Burnish. 

“What’s the Tart?” Galo asked when he found his voice.

“Tartarus. Where they keep the troublemakers and the high interest Burnish. I had the misfortune of being both.” Lio tossed the pebble and it disappeared into the night.

“Oh.” Galo watched as Lio patted the ground for another pebble. He wanted to say so much, but nothing felt adequate. “Can I put my arm around you? As kind of a long form hug.”

Lio stopped staring at the ground to stare at Galo dubiously. “Are you sure? You know how I feel.”

Galo did not know how Lio felt, but that was beside the point. “Yeah! Get on in here for a Galo Thymos special one armed hug!”

He lifted his arm and Lio scooted closer where he fit perfectly. Lio leaned against his side, warm and solid, and Galo tightened his grip on Lio’s shoulders. His heart definitely did a strange thing where it went way too fast. 

Galo cleared his throat. “Maybe I can talk to Ignis. We should get you a real office with a window and room for a desk.”

“That sounds like I’m staying for a while.”

“I’d like it.” Galo felt sweaty. Why was he so sweaty? “If you stayed.”

“It’s not so bad here. I can think of worse places to be.” Lio nodded up toward the night sky. “But you can’t see the stars at all because of the light pollution.”

Galo stared upwards. “Looks the same as always to me.”

Lio scrutinized Galo closely. “Have you ever been outside Promepolis?”

“Nothing but the wastes out there! Why would I leave the best city on Earth?”

“It’s not all bad out in the wastes. The dessert is beautiful in its own way.” Lio spoke quietly. “There’s places that weren’t burned away in the Great World Blaze. Nature runs wild with no humans to tame it.”

“Like the frozen lake?” Galo just wanted to hear Lio talk.

“Like the frozen lake. Or a field full of flowers in more colors than you knew existed. Or a tree growing right out of the middle of someone’s house. Or stars that you can’t see in the city. It’s called the Milky Way for a reason.”

“Yeah, like those old Greek guys just liked milk a lot.”

Lio laughed lightly and Galo’s heart stopped. “I’ll take you on a road trip someday. We’ll go stargazing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are super appreciated as always! I started this back in February thinking I could get it done in time for Valentine's Day, but life interfered and this story just kept growing. 
> 
> So yeah… The Promepolis Coffee Co cup reference is to the coffee shop where Lio and Galo work in the coffee shop AU that I also write. Part of the reason chapters have been coming out a little slower for that one is because I’ve been working on this behind the scenes. 
> 
> Also, mayonnaise pancakes are really a thing. And they’re actually pretty good!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio and Galo's first day out on the road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I hope the length of this update makes it worth it.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you enjoyed this. Honestly, these chapters take me a long time and comments really keep me going.

△△△ Three Weeks △△△

With a loud metallic clang, Galo and Gueira hefted the mech roll cage to the ground.

“You almost made me drop it!” Gueira gave Galo an accusatory Galo.

“It’s not my fault you have stick arms.” Galo replied offhandedly.

Gueira’s expression flashed angrily, but Varys entered the room carrying an entire desk over one shoulder as if it weighed nothing more than a sack of feathers. That was enough to shut both of them up. 

Lio followed after him carrying one of the chairs out of the supply closet with a potted plant set in the seat. “There’s enough room for the desk over there by the window.”

Varys set the desk down lightly. “Anything else you need brought up here?”

“No.” Lio shook his head and set the chair down behind the desk. He picked the potted plant up and placed it in the window. “Um, thanks.”

Varys nodded in Lio’s general direction before making his departure.

Galo picked up a spare chunk of mech parts and snuck a glance over at Lio. He’d pulled his hair back into a loose ponytail while they were moving into the new office and a chunk of hair had gotten loose, hanging into his eyes a little. Galo wanted to tuck it behind his ear for him. Not for the first time that day, Galo found that Lio was already looking his direction. Their eyes met and Lio looked away.

Gueira made an annoyed noise at the back of his throat. “Goddammit.” 

He stomped over to Lio and hissed something at him. Lio rolled his eyes and responded with something curt, but Galo couldn’t make out what it was. Lio’s eyes slid over to Galo again which only caused Gueira to scowl more.

They seemed to watch each other a lot, Galo reflected as he tried to wedge the mech part he was carrying into a small space. Prior to yesterday, this room housed Lucia’s spare mech parts (in case she ever wanted them again). She hadn’t exactly been gracious about giving up even part of the space, but she eventually relented when Aina pointed out Lio was part of the team.

Lio was part of the team. They were throwing a welcoming party for the three former Burnish later that night and it was going to be awesome.

For now though, Lio made use of one half of the storage area while Lucia kept her parts in the other. She’d even marked out a line on the floor for them which was convenient.

“I like your, um, plant.” Galo gestured to the spindly-looking bit of green in the window sill.

“Oh. Thanks.” Lio set out a pen on his desk. “Meis got it for me. It’s supposed to remind me to put down roots.”

“Hah?”

“That’s what he said. Put down roots.” Lio wrote something on a notepad and held it up for Galo to see. “What do you think?”

Letters had a way of jumbling up on him and Galo didn’t want to get it wrong and disappoint Lio. “Lio, your handwriting is terrible.”

“Hm.” Lio frowned. “You’re right.”

Clattering loudly, one of the mech parts fell over, starting a small cascade of tumbling mech parts. Gueira cursed loudly and creatively. Galo held his hands up. “I didn’t do it.”

As if the ruckus had summoned her, Lucia stuck her head in the door. “I told you not to break anything. And stay on the right side of the line!”

“Sorry, Lucia.” Galo flashed his best apologetic smile.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at him. “Just keep an eye on those two, Galo.” She blew a bubble with her gum and popped it, all while trying to give Lio her best glare, before leaving the room.

“Yo, boss. You shouldn’t be forced to share your office with that little devil.” Gueira hopped up to sit on Lio’s desk.

“She’s not a devil, she’s a team member.” Lio glanced over at Gueira. “Besides, I have a plan. I have to get ready for a meeting with a client anyway.”

“What the hell, boss, a client?” Gueira asked in disbelief.

“A very important one.” With that enigmatic remark, Lio strode from the room.

As soon as Lio was out of sight, Gueira slid down from the desk, glaring at Galo. “Hey. I’ve seen the way you look at the boss.”

And how exactly did he look at Lio? Galo wanted to know! “I’m just looking at him in a normal way.”

“Tch.” Gueira stalked over to Galo. “If you touch him, if you lay one finger on him, I’m breaking that finger. Got it?”

“Okay. Got it. Definitely got it.” Galo picked up one of the fallen mech parts and set it upright. “But what if Lio touches me?”

“Then I break two of your fingers.”

“We could be friends, you know. Bond over our mutual appreciation of your boss.”

“You shot me with a freeze gun. We’re not friends!” Gueira spun on his heel and shot back over his shoulder before leaving the room. “And stay away from the boss!”

“Oh yeah?! Well, you’re missing out because I’m the world’s #1 friend!” Galo called after him.

Left in the relative quiet of the office/storage area, Galo set to work righting the fallen mech parts and setting them on Lucia’s side of the room. What was Gueira’s problem with him anyway? Maybe he did shoot him with a freeze gun, but he wanted to be arrested at the time! And maybe he did look at Lio, but it was perfectly normal way for a guy to look at his friend! Gueira looked at Lio all the time!

Anyway, Galo was perfectly, 150% fine with just being friends with Lio. Friends were awesome! And Lio was awesome!

On his way out of the office, Galo stopped to look at the paper Lio had left on his desk. Without people watching him, Galo picked up the notebook. ‘Burnish Recovery’. Sounded like Burning Rescue a little. Galo approved, whatever it was.

Galo returned to the common area and threw himself down on the couch. With the promare gone and the Burnish no longer wielding flames, things had been so quiet that Galo didn’t always know what to do with himself. Lucia almost always had something for him to test (even if last time the test ended up with him covered head-to-toe in a new flame retardant goo) so he could consider giving her a visit. (The flame retardant goo had tasted like cotton candy after all.)

Lio stepped out of the bathroom and — Alert!! Galo’s mind briefly short-circuited as he took in Lio’s change of appearance. He’d taken his hair down into its usual style, but more than that! He wore a pair of toned down boots, tight pants, white button-up and fitted black sports jacket. To say Lio cleaned up well would have been the understatement of the century. Galo’s mouth felt very dry. Did Lio own a pair of pants that didn’t accentuate his long legs? Was this how Galo had been looking at Lio? 

“Is it too much?” Lio asked.

Galo shook his head emphatically. “No! You look great! Very professional!”

“Thanks.”

“Lio!” Galo jumped to his feet, closing the distance between them. “Your collar is crooked. Here.” 

Reaching out, Galo fixed up Lio’s shirt collar so it was even again. Lio looked up, without saying anything, and their eyes met. (Hold on!! Some far distant part of Galo’s mind screamed, but—) As if drawn to each other, Galo found himself leaning down and Lio stetched up to meet him and—

“Sorry, I’m a little early. I’m here to meet with Mr. Fotia?” an unfamiliar voice interrupted them.

The two of them jumped apart. Galo turned to face the owner of the voice, his heart still thumping loudly in his chest. He didn’t recognize the two women, though both of them were older than Lio so it was sort of funny they’d call him Mr. Fotia, but he did recognize the girl clinging to the hand of one of the women. 

Galo smiled at Marissa, the young girl who’d made all the papers for being one of the first Burnish children to be reunited with her family. Her hair was still cropped short and she had an eye patch over the eye she’d lost to experiments run by the Foresight Foundation. Her mother had been advocate for Burnish rights ever since her daughter had turned Burnish, campaigning for the dissolution of the Burnish detention camps and for the Burnish to be reintegrated back into society. Prior to the Parnassus incident, this viewpoint had seemed laughable, but public opinion was rapidly turning.

Lio cleared his throat, suddenly all business again. “Ms. Cremona, thank you for coming. If you’d like, please follow me up to my office. I apologize for the clutter.”

Galo held his hand out for a fistbump as Marissa passed. She returned it with a shy smile without letting go of her mom’s hand. Lio led the way to the garage, up a half-flight of stairs and to his office beyond. Idly, Galo followed after them to the foot of the stairs only to find Lucia staring after the group with a scandalized expression.

“That kid is going to touch all my stuff!” Lucia exclaimed none too quietly. “She’ll ruin everything!”

Before entering his office, Lio held the door open for the ladies and gave Lucia a challenging look. 

“That brat!” Lucia scoffed. “This is a plan or something. I underestimated you, Lio Fotia!”

Galo watched as Lio entered the office and the door closed behind him. Fuming, Lucia returned to her work station. Utterly confused, Galo stood in the garage. He’d just been trying to fix Lio’s collar. What had that all been about??

△△△ Present Day △△△

From road trip idea to road trip execution took a little over two months. At some point in the past three years, Lio had become an ‘adult’ with ‘important adult things to do’ (like run the Burnish Recovery offices). Galo enlisted Gueira and Meis to keep Lio from changing his mind and deciding he was too busy to take a vacation. Whenever Lio started hinting that maybe they should push back their vacation, Gueira would make it a point to spend an extra amount of time being extra helpful at the Burnish Recovery office. Eventually Lio would change his mind, muttering darkly about needing a vacation right now. Galo and Gueira would high-five, rinse and repeat.

On one afternoon, Lio dragged Galo to a navigation class run through an outdoor goods co-op. They spent the afternoon using a GPS unit to find landmarks in the park that had once been known as Founder’s Park, but was now called Discovery Park. (The statue of Kray had been removed.) The instructors adored Lio, who approached the class with his usual Lio-levels of intensity, and Galo worried that he’d have to arm wrestle them to take his boyfriend home at the end of the day. Galo also got to pet all the dogs, all of which were good. Then they spent too much money at the co-op buying a tent, sleeping bags and the rest of their gear. Lio picked out a fuzzy fleece pullover which was the most un-Lio-like thing Galo had ever seen and Galo couldn’t wait to snuggle him in it.

“Lio, are you having a mid-life crisis?” Galo asked when he saw the pile of gear they’d brought home at the end of the day.

“I’m not even thirty yet!” Lio exclaimed.

Finding a week in which both Lio and Galo could take time off had been, by far, the most difficult part of the ordeal. But here they were, bright and early on departure day.

“Are you sure you can handle everything? You can call me if you need anything.” Lio triple checked that everything was appropriately packed in the touring trunk of his motorcycle before closing it.

“We got it, boss.” Meis reassured Lio.

“I’m surprised you didn’t draw up a diagram before packing that thing.” Gueira elbowed Lio in the ribs.

“Who says I didn’t?”

Aina fussed with Galo’s jacket. “Did you pack enough warm clothes?”

“I got this, Aina. We won’t even be gone a week.” Galo zipped and unzipped his jacket (a bright red waterproof jacket from the co-op) to demonstrate how warm his clothes were. “Check this out.” He lifted his arms up and undid the zips. “Pit zips!”

“Take this seriously, Galo! Do you know what to do if you get lost and separated from Lio?”

“I stay still and let Lio find me! I have my whistle!” Galo declared. He looked around at the small gathering of friends that had shown up to see the two of them off so early and felt a swell of affection.

“You take good care of the boss.” Gueira slapped Galo on the shoulder. He leaned closer, his voice dropping. “Or I’ll take you out myself.”

Galo grinned. Over the years, Gueira had threatened to murder him numerous times. At least now he was pretty sure Gueira was joking. “Promise, promise! And Galo Thymos is a man of his word.”

A few more goodbyes before Lio and Galo were off, racing toward the outskirts of Promepolis as fast the early morning traffic would allow. Galo made sure to turn around and wave to his friends before they completely disappeared out of sight. He never would have guessed that two leaders of a former arson-terrorist organization (freedom fighters not terrorists, Lio liked to remind him) would be seeing him off on a road trip. Aina waved back and shouted something that he couldn’t hear.

Lio insisted they get up and leave Promepolis early, but it still took then until mid-morning to leave the sprawl of the city behind and break out into the gold and brown dessert landscape. Once they were out in the open, Lio gunned his bike, roaring at top speeds down the highway. Galo followed after, racing to keep up. Under no circumstance would Galo let Lio get away from him.

They stopped a bit into the afternoon at a spot where the road ran close to a cliffside. As the landscape dropped away, a breathtaking expanse of dessert stretched out below them. Lio sat too close to the cliff ledge, but Lio had always enjoyed high places, hadn’t he? Galo plopped down next to him, feeling the sun warm on his back. The soft summer-turning-to-autumn breeze felt good as it tugged on his hair. From here, he couldn’t even make out the distant towers of Promepolis.

Lio leaned against Galo, arm to arm. “Have you been this far out of Promepolis before?”

“Yeah. Back in my Academy days, sometimes I’d just drive around to burn off excess energy.” Galo leaned back against Lio. “That’s how I found that frozen lake. Imagine if I hadn’t stumbled on that lake. Things would have ended up pretty differently for us, huh?”

“I think about it a lot actually.” Lio reached into the bag he’d packed earlier that morning and handed Galo a baguette sandwich and a water bottle.

Galo took a huge bite of his lunch. “You do?” He asked with his mouth full.

Lio nodded and passed a napkin to Galo. “What if we hadn’t fought when we attacked Foresight Pharmaceuticals? What if you hadn’t listened when you found us hiding out at the lake? What if Aina hadn’t dumped us in the lake to cool off?”

“Us?” Galo protested. “You were the one that needed cooling off!”

Lio smiled, looking in the direction of Promepolis. “It all seems so fragile sometimes, this happiness…”

“It’s not fragile at all!” Galo ruffled Lio’s hair which earned him a glare. “I know you’d fight for this like you’d fight for anything else. You think too much, Lio. The right-nows are just as important as the what-ifs.”

Lio appraised Galo for a moment before speaking. “You’re much smarter than anyone gives you credit for.”

“What? Me?” Galo laughed. “Everyone knows you’re the brains of this operation.” He chomped into his sandwich to hide his embarrassment causing a glob of mayonnaise to drip off the end of his baguette and land on pants. “Ah!”

“I got it.” Lio grabbed one of the napkins and wiped the worst of the mayo off Galo’s thigh. Using his water bottle, he dampened a second napkin and used it to scrub at the grease mark left behind.

Galo found himself eating his sandwich like he was going to die if he didn’t finish it in the next two minutes and trying very hard not to think about where Lio’s hands were in relation to other parts of his body.

“Don’t think it’ll stain now…” Lio mused. “Did you want to look at the map? See where we’ll be camping tonight?”

“We’ve looked at the map.” 

“Yes, but you were doing that thing where you pretend to pay attention to make me happy.” Lio turned to reach into his pack and carefully unfolded the map. Cell phone reception would be spotty at best in the wastes between city-states, but only Lio would go out and buy an actual paper map. “I thought since we’re out on the road, you might actually find this interesting now.”

Galo snorted. Lio had tried multiple times to explain their route to him, but every time Galo had lost the ability to focus part way in. 

“Promepolis is here.” Lio pointed to the map. “We’re here. And the frozen lake is over here.”

Galo nodded, taking the last bite of his sandwich.

“We’re going to take this road further south because I couldn’t use it when I was Burnish. I’ve never been there before and I’d like to see it.” Lio traced a route with his finger.

“Why couldn’t you use it?” Galo asked.

Lio folded up the map. “Why don’t you try to figure it out when we get there?”

“Oh, a mystery! Was there a Freeze Force hideout?” Galo asked, unscrewing the cap of his water bottle.

Lio shook his head. 

“Hmm…” Galo considered. If not Freeze Force, then what? He flopped backward on the ground, stretching his arms up over his head to use for a pillow and letting the sun warm him.

Lio continued to eat his lunch at a slower pace while Galo gazed up at the sky. It felt like they didn’t have a sky this blue in Promepolis or clouds this fluffy either. A lone bird circled overhead. He closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of sun against him.

A small, chill hand pressed lightly against the skin of his stomach where his shirt had ridden up a bit. Galo cracked one eye open to see Lio leaning over him.

“I want to soak you up like you soak up the sun.” Lio watched him with a fond expression.

“And what does that mean?”

“I want to look at how beautiful you are.” Lio rubbed a little circle on Galo’s stomach.

“Your hands are always freezing.” Galo reached down so he could boop Lio on the nose with one finger. “Did you put sunscreen on this morning?”

“I did, Mr. Responsible.”

Abruptly, Galo sat up, startling Lio. “Lio, I had the best idea.”

He jumped to his feet and dashed to their motorcycles which were parked just off the road. Humming to himself, Galo dug through the storage of his bike.

“What are you doing?” Lio asked, sounding both suspicious and amused.

Galo plopped down heavily next to Lio, a couple of blank papers in his hand. He passed a sheet of paper to Lio. “I dunno. Just wanted to throw a paper airplane off the cliff. I bet it can go really far from here.”

Lio creased his paper carefully. “Does this count as littering?”

“I didn’t think about that!” Galo paused in folding his airplane. He flashed Lio a devilish smile. “You may have finally turned me into a delinquent.”

“It’s a start.” Lio held up his now completed paper airplane. “Want to see whose goes farther?”

“It’s not even a contest. My plane is definitely going to beat yours!” Galo held his paper airplane up next to Lio’s. 

“On the count of three. One-” Lio got to his feet.

“Height advantage!” Galo declared as his jumped to his feet.

“Two-” Lio jumped onto Galo’s back, piggy-back style. 

“Hey!” Galo protested. 

“Height advantage.” Lio commented and kissed the back of Galo’s head. Then with a shout, he announced. “Three!” 

Both of them threw their airplanes at the same time. They sailed straight, in perfect parallel, before a gust of wind struck both of them. Their planes performed some pretty cool loops, but neither of them made it very far.

“I think this says something about man’s hubris.” Lio commented.

“Hey.” Galo grinned and twisted to face his passenger. “I think it means Lio de Galon!!”

“You idiot.” Lio commented, hopping down from Galo’s back. “Come on, we need to head out if we’re going to make it to the campground before dark.”

△△△ Three Weeks △△△

If Galo was a compass, then Lio was magnetic north. All through the party that night, Galo found himself oriented so he could watch Lio across the room. (Plus, he’d put on those pants, the ones with all the belts and straps, and how could Galo not look?) Galo sang an enthusiastic karaoke rendition of a pop song about a girl who had a secret crush on a boy and his eyes meet with Lio’s from across the room. Lio held his gaze the entire time Galo sang a verse, wondering if the boy ever even noticed he existed. When the song ended, Galo felt breathless as Lio joined everyone else in politely clapping. Gueira, who’d had more than little to drink at this point, cheered loudest out of all of them.

“Thank you!” Galo bowed and bounced off the stage. Sweaty and thirsty after his time on stage, Galo snagged a bottle out of the partially melted ice in the cooler before making his way over to Lio.

“You haven’t taken the stage all night.” Galo commented as he leaned against the wall near Lio. On stage, Aina began belting out a metal song, complete with metal voice. “Even Meis and Gueira sang something. Come on, big boss. Let’s hear you sing!”

“I don’t sing.” Lio took a sip of the tropical fruit juice he’d been nursing most of the evening. There wasn’t even any alcohol in it.

“You’re not on the clock. You could have one of the beers Varys brought in.” Galo motioned to Lio’s drink and then the cooler. “You’re part of the team now and he brought them to share.”

Lio glanced down at his fruit juice can. “Turns out I don’t like the taste of beer very much.”

“Really?” A thought occurred to Galo. His voice dropped to a mock whisper. “Lio, are you old enough to drink?”

Lio gave him A Look. “What? How old do you think I am?!”

“Um. Twenty-one?”

“Pfft.” Lio half-smiled and took another drink. “I’m flattered, but no.”

“Okay, Mr. Smarty-Pants. How old am I?”

“Twenty-three.” He gave Galo’s astonished look a side-long glance. “I saw your ID when I knocked you out in the cave.”

“You frisked me?!” Galo didn’t know why the idea of Lio patting him down excited him.

“I was checking to make sure you didn’t have any weapons. Hard to tell what you keep in those pouches.”

“Rescue supplies!” Galo replied, scandalized.

“And candy.”

“The candy is a rescue supply.” Galo muttered before perking up again. “Maybe it’s not a regulation supply! But it’s for the kids when they’re brave.”

Lio smiled at that, letting his eyes wander the crowd again. Galo followed his gaze to see Gueira pulling Meis by the hand toward the bunk room. Idly, he wondered what would happen if he took Lio’s hand and pulled him off to the old supply closet. Lio’s hand would be so small in his own. What kind of face would he make if Galo kissed him? Would he be annoyed? Would he be shy? Would he close his eyes and lean closer?

Galo laughed.

Lio lifted his head, puffing up defensively. “They’ve been through a lot, if they want to sneak off—”

“No, it isn’t that.” Galo scratched at the shaved side of his head. “We’re friends, right?”

“I’d like to think so.” Lio answered simply.

“Good! I’m glad!” Galo responded enthusiastically. Just friends. “I’m really glad we’re friends! I like being friends with you.”

“I’m glad we’re friends too.” Lio stared out across the room, not making eye contact.

“And since you are my friend… how old are you exactly?”

“That is the question, isn’t it?” Lio lips turned up into a smirk.

“A man of mystery! I like it!” Galo declared before remembering he’d come over here on a mission. “So what’s it going to take to get you up there on stage?”

“I told you. I don’t sing.”

“Okay, what do you do?” Galo bounced on the balls of his feet. “You don’t have to be shy about getting up on stage!”

“I’m actually just fine watching.”

“Yeah, but…” Galo glanced around at the rest of the party, the brightly colored balloons that he’d helped hang with one of the mechs and the groups of people chatting together. Lucia took the stage, scrolling through the karaoke menu. “I can’t tell if you’re actually having fun.”

Lio was quiet for a moment before answering. “I’m not very good at cutting loose. Or having fun.”

“All the more reason for you get up there on stage!” Galo grinned. “I’ll sing something with you if that makes it easier. I’d like to hear your voice.”

“Galo, I don’t…” 

“What?”

“…know any of the songs.” Lio admitted. “Don’t look at me like that. We had a radio. We’d listen to it when we could get reception in the desert, but mostly we’d try to get news. Hear what was going on in the world.”

There were so many things Lio had missed out on. Galo wanted to show him everything. “I’m going to teach you all the lyrics to every pop song.”

“No thank you.” 

“And I’ll take you to all my favorite restaurants, show you the park where all the dogs are, and I’ll take you to the science museum with the dinosaurs bones that you’re not allowed to touch.”

“Did you try touching them?” Lio asked with a slight smile.

“Not since grade school!”

“I think I’d like that, if you showed me around Promepolis. I’d like to learn more about the city you call home.”

“It’s your home too.” Galo added. 

“I wonder.” Lio mused. After a moment, he looked up at Galo. “Did you want to take me somewhere right now?”

“Right now? During your party?” Galo asked in surprise.

“Yes. Are you sober enough to drive?” Lio asked.

Galo held up his root beer. “I’m always ready in case a call comes in!”

“Good. You made me lose something and I need you to help me find it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So we’re looking for your earring.” Galo stated as he stood on the roof of a business complex high rise. “And how exactly did I make you lose it? And why am I responsible?”

“Because I lost it when you knocked my mask off.” Lio swung a wooden a practice sword as if testing it for something. The hole in the roof hadn’t been repaired, merely taped over with plastic and marked off with vibrant yellow tape, (one of them had crashed through it during their first fight and Galo couldn’t remember who) and Lio walked the perimeter. After all that had happened, Galo felt a strange mix of emotions (not all of which he wanted to name) coming back to the site where Lio had been arrested.

“Lio, it’s been a month.” Galo did some quick math in his head. “It’s been over a month! I don’t think we’re going to find it up here.”

“It’s important to me.” Lio scanned the ground.

Galo tapped his foot impatiently against the ground before crouching down to get a better look at the flat surface of the rooftop. Taking his cell phone out of his pocket, he used the flashlight to illuminate the ground. He’d already gotten a text from Aina asking him where he’d disappeared to.

Running the beam of light over the ground, Galo slowly crouched his way around the perimeter of the yellow tape. He straightened up, stretching his legs out. “I don’t see anything. Let’s come back when it’s light out.”

Casually, Lio spun the practice sword in his hand like a baton. Pleased, Lio nodded to himself then turned to Galo. He whirled the blade, switching it easily from his left to his right hand, before bringing the point of the sword to a halt mere inches from Galo’s Adam’s apple. Galo closed his mouth, because it hung open.

“Galo Thymos.” Lio’s voice was cold. “You saved the world, but you’ll give up before you find one simple earring?”

“Why is this suddenly so important to you?!”

“Someone gave it to me.” Lio held the sword point steady at Galo’s throat.

“What? Who?!” Galo demanded. “A boy?”

“Yes. A boy.”

An unexpected surge of anger — jealousy more accurately — flashed through Galo. He knocked the practice sword away. “Where’s the other one? I’ll fight you.”

Lio stepped out of the way, grinning as if he’d won something, and pointed toward where he’d left the second practice sword by the door back down into the building. 

Galo stomped over to the wooden sword and picked it up. “I’m warning you, I won’t take it easy on you.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Lio idly swung the sword before spinning it just once and dropping into a fighting stance. What a show off.

Galo held up his hand and motioned Lio closer in a mockery of the first time they fought. Lio didn’t need much more of an invitation. In a flash, Lio advanced and Galo barely had time to block the incoming sword. The two exchanged blows, Galo almost unable to keep up with Lio. 

His blood sang, his soul ignited. 

He found himself giving ground until Lio had him nearly up against the edge of the building. Suddenly, Lio broke off, breathing heavily. Galo sized up his opponent as he caught his own breath.

“Truce?” Galo offered, holding out his free hand.

“You want to stop already?” Lio looked up at him, smiling fiercely.

No, no he did not want to stop. Not with Lio looking at him like that. “Bring it on!!”

Another flurry of sword thrusts, Galo for a moment took the upper hand. The tables turned quickly, Lio cut in under his guard. Before Galo even realized what was happening, his sword flew threw the air, tumbling end over end, and landed several yards away from them. 

Lio tapped Galo’s shoulder with his blade. “I win.”

Eyes wide, Galo glanced between his sword and Lio triumphant. He panted slightly, his bangs sticking to his forehead with sweat. Something hot coiled up inside Galo and he took a step back. Lio considered how close the two were and took a step back as well.

“Sorry.” Lio muttered. 

“No, it’s—” Galo didn’t know what Lio was apologizing for.

Lio turned away, dropping his sword to his side. “What am I doing? I’m supposed to be getting over you.”

“Hah?” Galo grunted in confusion. Getting over him?? “Lio.”

Lio turned, his expression unreadable. “Galo, I’m trying, really trying—”

“Shut up and kiss me.”

“What?”

Galo thought he was the supposed to be the stupid one. “Kiss me.”

Instantly, Lio closed the distance between them. Lio looked as if he were going to punch Galo. Instead, Lio’s hand grasped the back of Galo’s head and pulled him down until their lips mashed together. It was awkward and wonderful. Lio readjusted his angle and Galo parted his lips when he felt Lio’s tongue. And suddenly the two of them were kissing as if trying to reform Galo de Lion through their mouths alone.

When they broke apart, both of them needed to catch their breath. Galo didn’t know exactly when it had happened, but his arms were wrapped around Lio, holding him close.

“I think.” Galo panted. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while now.”

Lio’s eyes went wide. Nothing would ever be as cute as Lio Fotia blushing so much even his ears turned pink. “With me?”

“Yes, you. You’re—” But Galo didn’t have the words to say what Lio was. “You’re my north and I’m south.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Magnets.” Galo let go of Lio so he could demonstrate, pushing the index fingers of his hands together. “Zing!”

“Oh.” Lio ducked his head, tucking some of his hair behind his ear. He took a moment to consider Galo’s words before glaring up at him. “Wait, you idiot. You told me you wanted to be friends!”

“That was because you told me you wanted to be friends!” Galo defended himself.

“I pined over you! You and your blue eyes and your stupid smile and your ineffable goodness!” Lio poked Galo in the chest.

“Un-eff-able goodness?!” Galo scoffed. He was plenty fuckable!

“Why did you tell me it wasn’t a kiss?!” Lio demanded, eyes narrowed.

“It wasn’t!” Galo glared right back at Lio. “You weren’t even awake! You couldn’t tell me if you wanted to kiss or not! I was just doing the only thing I could think of!”

The anger drained out of Lio. “So this whole thing was about consent?”

“Uh, yeah. Consent is sexy, Lio.”

“You idiot.” Lio ducked his head, his hair brushing against Galo’s chest. “You wonderful, beautiful, perfect idiot.”

“So…” Galo couldn’t tell if he was still in trouble or not.

“You better kiss me again.” Lio spoke without lifting his head, sliding his arms around Galo’s waist.

Carefully, Galo hooked his finger under Lio’s chin, tilting his head up. He leaned closer until Lio stretched up to meet him. Galo took his time, exploring the inside of Lio’s mouth. With small contented noise, Lio loosely draped his arms around Galo’s neck. 

“Lio.” Galo felt breathless, pulling back just enough to break the connection between them. “Let me take you home with me.”

“Okay.” Lio agreed, opening his eyes to look up at Galo. “Take me home.”

△△△ Present Day △△△

“Well, what do you think?” Lio stepped back to survey their handiwork. It had taken both of them to decipher the instructions and set up the small two-person tent.

“How are both of us going to fit in there?” Galo asked.

“We’ll fit.” Lio assured him.

“Yeah, but you’re—” Galo held up a hand to indicate Lio’s approximate height. ”Pocket-sized.”

Lio glared. 

“And I’m—” He held up his hand higher to indicate how much bigger he was than Lio. “Some have called me a fine specimen of humanity.”

“Who calls you that?” Lio asked, deadpan.

“You said that in bed!”

Lio frowned. “I didn’t mean that in relation to your height, I meant—” Lio cut himself off as Galo grinned. “I can assure you that you will fit into the tent as well.” 

“So we have the tent set up, now what do we do?” Galo looked around the campsite excitedly. Tall pine trees shaded their little campsite, their motorcycles now neatly unpacked. He’d never been camping before. Who would have taken him?

Lio would take him. That’s who!

“I suppose we could walk down to the river before dinner. Does that sound acceptable?”

“That sounds better than acceptable. That sounds great!”

When Galo thought of the wastes outside Promepolis, he thought of long expanses of brown deserts, scorched barren in the Great World Blaze. He thought of abandoned towns, swallowed up by sand. He thought of newborn volcanoes, dormant now that the promare were gone. Sometimes he thought about the leader of a certain biker gang who saw beauty even in the scars left behind by the blaze, alone in the desert at night and gazing up at the stars. He wondered if they were ever lonely on the same nights and if they ever looked at the same stars.

Galo did not imagine tall pines overhead, air thick with birdsong, and a broad trail cutting through mossy fallen logs and ferny undergrowth. Sunlight flickered on the path as it filtered down through the trees, making Lio’s hair glow when the light hit just right. He’d shed his jacket and carried it over one arm. Galo’s foot caught on a tree root as he was too busy admiring his boyfriend’s preference for tight pants.

“You okay?” Lio turned when he heard Galo stumble.

Galo had caught himself before he completely wiped out. “I’m perfectly fine! Just enjoying the scenery.”

“Be careful and watch your feet.”

Galo waggled his eyebrows. “Just watching the scenery.”

Lio nodded seriously. “I’m glad you like it.”

Geez, for someone so smart, Lio could be really dense sometimes. “You know… the scenery.”

Lio simply gave him a confused look.

Galo placed a hand on both of Lio’s shoulders. “Lio. I was admiring your butt.”

Immediately, Lio turned on his heel. “We’re almost there.”

The two of them broke through the tree line and onto the gray, rocky shores of a swiftly flowing river. Immediately, Galo crunched his way across the rocks to the riverside, staring into the water for any fish. “No fish.”

He thrust his hand into the water. “Lio, it’s cold!”

A small rock plopped into the middle of the river. Galo glanced over his shoulder to see Lio catching up to him. “That’s because this river is fed by the mountains.”

Grinning, Galo stooped down and picked up a handful of rocks. “Is that what you do out here? Pick up rocks and throw them into the water?”

“Or we can just admire the beauty of nature.”

“That sounds boring.” One by one, Galo threw the rocks into the water. “So how come have you’ve never been here before? It’s beautiful! If I was in a wild biker gang, I’d come here all the time.”

“Hm.” Lio toed some rocks with his boot. “Do you want a hint?”

“Sure!”

“It’s the same reason you won’t let me cook over a campfire tonight.”

“Fire safety!” Galo answered promptly before his brain caught up to his mouth. “Wait. You didn’t want to set the forest on fire?”

Lio nodded. “It’s too easy for the young Burnish to lose control of their fire.” After a pause, Lio corrected himself. “It was too easy.”

Galo crouched down again, picking up a piece of worn glass and turning it over in his hands. Prior to meeting Lio, he wouldn’t have thought the Burnish cared what they burned. 

“Places like this forest, places that escaped the Great World Blaze, they were— Sacred is the wrong for it, but I guess it’s close enough.” Lio continued quietly. “Even Meis and Gueira had the good sense not to come here.”

“Good sense? Those two?”

Lio smiled, his melancholy dissipating. “Hard to believe, isn’t it?”

“A ha!” Galo straightened up as his eyes spotted the perfect rock. Using both arms, he scooped up the rather sizeable speckled gray rock. He hefted it to the edge of the river before tossing it in. “Raaagh!”

It landed with a satisfying ker-plop in the water. A flock of birds launched from the nearby treetops.

“Maybe that rock spent million of years trying to get out of the river.” Lio suggested.

Galo shrugged. “Or it spent millions of years trying to get back to its rock friends in the river. I’m helping.”

“Hm.” Lio made a noise of approval, his eyes on Galo.

“What?”

“I’m admiring the scenery.”

“You’re looking at my butt?” Galo glanced over his back in an attempt to see his own backside.

“Your arms, you dingdong.”

“Snarms.” Galo snickered.

Lio glared. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“I’m not.” Galo folded his arms over his chest in a way that just happened to flex his upper arms. “I just have snarms. That’s all.”

Lio shook his head and held his hand out to Galo. “Walk with me.”

Together, the two of them walked along the riverside. They found the remains of a campfire which scandalized Galo. If the Burnish spent all this time trying to protect the forest, then it wasn’t fair that someone else would come along and nearly ruin it. Further along, someone had built a tiny village out of driftwood. Lio wouldn’t leave until he added his own little driftwood house to the scene. Galo spotted at least a dozen pretty rocks, but Lio made him leave all of them behind except one. He pocketed his souvenir -- a small pink rock roughly in the shape of a triangle.

When the shadows grew long, Lio donned his jacket again. Even Galo felt a bit of the evening chill in the air. “Do you want to head back, tiger?” Lio asked. There was a beat before he snorted into his hand. “I’m sorry, I can’t say it with a straight face.”

“Well, I like it!” Galo responded defensively. “Makes me feel cool and manly.”

“I know, I know.” Lio patted Galo’s arm while he tried to hide his laughter behind his hand.

“If someone wasn’t laughing about it! It’d be a cool nickname!”

Lio gave Galo an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. I don’t have your gift for nicknames, love.”

Galo rubbed Lio’s hand where it rested on his arm. “Let’s head back to camp.”

“Let’s. I’m getting hungry.” Lio wrapped his arms around himself to ward off a chill as a breeze blew through the trees..

“I think you mean that you’re eager to try out that camp stove.” Galo slid his arm over Lio’s shoulders.

“This from the man that couldn’t stop showing off his pit zips.” Lio poked Galo in the ribs.

“Hey, pit zips are cool.” Galo defended himself.

Lio laughed. “I think you’ll find my camp stove is also quite cool.”

The walk back to camp felt as if it took forever and, by the time they arrived, Galo was ready to eat the fake leather of Lio’s jacket. He helped Lio set up the portable camp stove on the picnic table at their campsite. Although he offered to help with dinner prep, Lio shooed him away and set to work cutting up the zucchini, onion and red pepper for their dinner.

“What should I do now?” Galo asked, eager to be helpful in some manner.

Lio looked up from his food prep. “What to set up the camp chairs?”

Months ago, back at the co-op, Lio insisted they buy collapsible camp chairs. Or more accurately, the staff at the co-op had sweet talked his boyfriend into it. (”Galo, they fold into the size of a water bottle and they weigh one pound!” Lio had said excitedly at the time.) Compared to the tent, Galo quickly assembled the chairs and placed them side by side. He flopped down into his chair, wiggling around in it until he’d thoroughly claimed it as his own with his backside.

“Here.” Lio brought Galo a beer once the foil packets containing dinner were on the stove.

Galo twisted the top off his beer. “Thanks. How long until dinner is ready?”

“About half an hour.” Lio sank into the chair next to Galo and opened his can of iced tea, the kind with the green can and cherry blossoms on it. (Lio still didn’t like the taste of beer.)

“Ugh, I’m starving.” Galo whined, descending further into his chair. “Hurry up and cook, dinner!”

“I have a surprise for dessert.” Lio smiled.

Galo sat up again. “There’s dessert?” Bless his boyfriend’s sweet tooth. “When do we get to do s’mores?”

“You’d have to let me start a campfire for that.”

Galo made a face and Lio laughed.

“What do we do now?” Galo asked. “Is there anything else that needs setting up?”

Lio shook his head. “I don’t think so. We just relax now and wait for dinner.”

“But you’re bad at relaxing.” Galo reached over to take Lio’s free hand.

Lio snorted. “So are you.”

“You’re worse!” Galo protested. “Mr. Boss of Burnish Recovery. How many times have you worked until you’ve fallen asleep at your desk?”

“That’s the nice thing about camping.” Lio replied in a snobbish tone. “There isn’t any cell phone reception. All I can do is relax.”

“Good.” Galo squeezed Lio’s hand. “We can both work on our relaxing together.”

Lio fell quiet, turning to face the sky as it colored into twilight over the trees. Never in a million years would Galo have thought of himself as a watching-the-sunset kind of guy, but Lio laced his fingers through Galo’s and now he was stuck. He could never move again.

“I’ve never gone camping before.” Galo watched the way the fading light played off Lio’s features, his voice soft.

Lio frowned, staring hard at his iced tea. He liked to avoid bringing up Kray, but Galo knew what he was thinking. If Kray cared, he would have taken Galo camping. It stung, because he thought so too.

But so what? He was glad Kray had never taken him camping. Now he could share this first time with Lio. It was one less thing that Kray had taken from him.

“It’s different than I thought it would be.” Galo smiled to lighten the mood. Lightly, he squeezed Lio’s hand.

“What do you think?” Lio asked, lifting his head.

“It’s a lot more sitting around and doing nothing than I thought. And a lot more walking. I’m having fun though.”

Lio nodded. “Good. I thought I’d had enough living rough to last a lifetime, but I kind of miss it. Does that sound weird?”

“Is it weird if I say I miss Burnish fires?” Galo asked.

“No, you’re an adrenaline junkie.”

“Hey.” Galo protested mildly. “Worked out for me in the long run, didn’t it?”

Lio took a sip of his iced tea. “There’s definitely things I will never miss about being on the run, but I have fond memories of camping out with Meis and Gueira.”

Galo smiled. Lio didn’t talk about his past much, especially not fondly.

“It was different. We didn’t have a fancy tent or a cook stove or anything. But—” Lio shrugged. “—I still wanted to share it with you. So thank you, for coming with me.”

“Of course, firebug. Where you go, I go.”

Lio leaned closer and kissed Galo.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chicken, zucchini, onion and bell pepper, all cooked together in a foil packet. Followed by what Lio called a ‘summer berry crumble’ also cooked in a foil packet. Did being outside make food taste better? Was that the magic?

“We have to do this again.” Galo said to Lio’s back as he followed him up a trail. He patted his very happy, very full stomach.

Lio kept the light from his flashlight steady on the trail. “Do what? We haven’t even gotten to the best part.”

Galo jumped when he heard a noise from between the depths of the trees. “Lio.” He whispered harshly, his heart hammering in his chest.

“What?”

“Did you hear that?” Not that Galo was scared, but he walked closer to Lio, resting on hand on his shoulder anyway. Just in case.

Lio stopped, cocking his head to listen.

“Are these woods haunted?” Galo whispered.

Lio turned his attention to Galo. “There’s no such things as ghosts.”

“Says you.” Galo forced himself to let go of Lio’s shoulder. “I bet you didn’t believe in aliens before.”

“I’ve seen aliens.” Lio turned his flashlight back on the path as he started walking again. “If you manage to find a ghost and show it to me, I’d believe in that as well.”

Galo’s hand clapped back on Lio’s shoulder when he heard another crack in the woods. “Do you think someone is following us? You believe in other people, don’t you? I’ve seen a horror movie before.”

“Through your fingers.” Lio commented.

“People get axe-murdered in woods like these.” Galo whispered.

“Galo Thymos, are you scared?” Lio asked over his shoulder.

“What? No, of course not!” Galo puffed his chest out, trying to match the bravado of his words. “I’m not scared at all!”

Lio looked over his shoulder at Galo. “Come on. I need you to defend me if we run into a ghost.”

The path began to slope steeply upwards. Galo knew that ghosts couldn’t cross running water, but could they go up hills? Or was it that aliens couldn’t walk up stairs? “Lio?”

“Yes, love.”

“Can ghosts cross running water?” Galo asked.

“I think it’s vampires that can’t cross running water.”

Galo considered this new information for a moment. “Do you think there’s vampires out here too?”

Before long, keeping his feet under himself while the trail continued upward turned into a challenge that consumed Galo’s attention. “Race you to the top.” Galo puffed, trying not to puff and let one he’d run out of breath.

“Don’t be stupid. One of us will trip and fall off the hill.” Lio picked up his pace anyway.

Eventually, the slope evened out and both of them stopped to catch their breath at the top. Lio bent over, bracing his hands against his knees. Galo patted Lio on the back. His legs burned from exertion, but he wouldn’t let on. “You’re getting out of shape in your old age.”

Lio straightened up and glared Galo. “I can still beat you with a sword.”

“We’ll see, old man.” Galo puffed.

Slowly, Galo made a circuit around the clearing at the top of hill. Without any city lights, only the moon lit the treetops below. The forest stretched out until it suddenly stopped dead where it had been burned away 30 years ago. 

With a click, Lio switched off his flashlight. “Give your eyes a moment to adjust.” 

Galo couldn’t wait. He craned his neck up to stare up at the stars. “Wow.”

The stars twinkled. Galo didn’t know another word for it. And there was more of them than he could ever remember seeing before. A thick band of stars brightened the center of the sky. “It’s like someone spilled all of Lucia’s bolts all over the sky.”

Lio stood next to Galo, trying to make out a star chart in the dim light. “Which way is north, do you think?”

“Lio…”

“I think—” Lio turned himself to his right. “It’s this way.”

“Lio, look up.”

At Galo’s words, Lio stopped fussing and tilted his head up to join Galo in admiring the stars. He felt Lio slip his much smaller hand into his own.

“You’re right. This was worth the whole trip.” Galo squeezed Lio’s hand. He glanced down to see Lio’s little I Was Right smile. “What’s that stripe of stars in the sky about?”

“That’s the milky way.” Lio bumped Galo lightly with his shoulder. “It’s the part of our home galaxy we can see from Earth.”

“Cool.” Galo felt as if the vastness of space was about to swallow him whole. In all his life, he’d never seen the stars look like this before. 

“Do you think they’re out there somewhere?” Lio asked quietly. “On a different star? Do you think they’re looking up at the sky, wondering where Earth is? Where all the Burnish they left behind are?”

Galo didn’t need to ask what Lio meant. He didn’t understand a lot of what Professor Prometh had said about the Promare, but he knew what longing and loneliness felt like. “Maybe.”

Lio leaned to rest his head against Galo’s arm. “They’re so far away. I can’t hear them anymore.”

Galo felt him shaking through the fabric of his jacket (with pit zips). Cautiously, he draped his arm over Lio’s shoulder, pulling him closer. “You okay over there?”

“Yeah. I’m just, I’m having— what’s the opposite of an existential crisis?” Lio looped his arms around Galo’s waist to steady himself.

“Um.” Existential was a pretty big word. “Existential wonder?”

“The universe is so vast. It can’t just be luck that we met.” Lio tightened his grip on Galo. “Maybe it was fate.”

Galo didn’t like the idea that Lio (or any of the other Burnish) had been fated to suffer. “No. No way. We make our own futures! If bad things happen, we can just look at it and say that’s the way things were meant to be! Same holds true for the stuff that’s yet to come!”

Lio stared up at him with wide eyes, taken slightly off guard by Galo’s sudden impassioned speech.

“I’m the World’s #1 Firefighting Idiot. And you’re the World’s #1 Former Arson Terrorist. It’s indelible that we’d meet.”

“Indelible?”

“You know, unavoidable.” Galo explained.

Lio let out a short laugh. “I think you mean inevitable.”

“Whatever! What I mean is— You’re you and I’m me! We’d have to cross paths one day because of who we are!”

“All roads lead to Galo.” Lio smiled.

“Consider me your nexus, firebug.”

No longer shaking, Lio released Galo, a shy half-smile on his lips. “I brought a blanket. Do you want to lay down and look at the stars for a while?”

“Yeah. Of course I do.”

“When we get back to camp, I’ll make hot chocolate.” Lio looked around for a flat spot to spread out the blanket.

“Is it the spicy kind or the not spicy kind?” Galo asked.

“I brought a selection.”

“Nice.” Galo grinned as he helped spread the blanket out. “You think of everything.”

“I heard cayenne keeps ghosts away. Maybe you should drink the Mexican hot chocolate.”

“What?! Really!?!”

△△△ Three Weeks △△△

“Here we are. Home, sweet home.” Galo glanced around his studio apartment. If he’d known he’d have Lio over, he would have cleaned up the dirty laundry scattered everywhere. “I’ll give you the tour.”

Lio placed his hand flat against Galo’s chest and shoved him up against the door. “Later. Take me to bed, Galo.”

“Uh—” Galo’s brain short-circuited. Lio was so close, he could smell that familiar, slightly floral scent.

With his free hand, Lio reached up to run his fingers over the shaved side of Galo’s head. The gloves made Galo’s heart beat faster, definitely in the good way.

“Lio…” Galo exhaled as their eyes met. Leaning down, he pulled Lio against him and kissed him. Lio made a little noise into Galo’s mouth and desire crashed into Galo like a motorcycle into his Matoi Tech.

He kissed Lio deeper, wet and hungry. Lio’s mouth was hot and all Galo wanted was more. 

“Mnf.” Lio stumbled a little as Galo attempted to guide him toward the bed without their lips parting. “What’d I just step on?”

“Pizza box.” Galo tugged the oversized Burning Rescue jacket off Lio, tossed it across the room. “What do wear that thing for?” Galo asked between planting kisses along Lio’s throat. “We could get you a new jacket, one that fits.”

“You gave it to me.” Lio answered simply. His hands found the hem of Galo’s t-shirt, tugging it up and over Galo’s head. “Fuck, you’re gorgeous.”

Lio dove in again, pulling Galo down to kiss him. This time, Lio had spotted his target and he steered Galo toward the low bed that took up most of one side of the studio. Galo knew the pitfalls of his own apartment well enough to navigate the space even if Lio’s mouth and hands on his body were all he could think about. He slid his hands up under Lio’s shirt, feeling the soft, warm skin underneath.

“Ah, Galo…” Lio gasped and pulled away from him just long enough to pull his own shirt off. He started to fold it, but Galo plucked it from his hands and threw it across the room the join his jacket. Wherever that might be.

Lio kissed along Galo’s shoulders as he made short work of undoing the belt at Lio’s waist. That also disappeared somewhere in the mess of Galo’s apartment. Galo’s hands fumbled with the clasp of Lio’s pants as his bedframe smacked Galo in his calves. “Lio, how do you—?” he muttered, unable to make any progress. 

“Need help?” Lio asked in amusement.

“Fuck it.” Galo sunk down onto the bed, pulling Lio into his lap. He’d figure it out later, for now he needed to kiss Lio more.

Their mouths met, hungry and panting, the height difference between them less obvious from this angle. Lio’s hands traced the line of Galo’s pecs, Galo’s stroked the small of Lio’s back.

“Hold on.” Lio looked up at Galo. Without breaking eye contact, Lio gripped the finger of his glove with his teeth and slowly pulled until the glove came off.

Something hot pulsed inside Galo. “Oh.”

Lio reached up to cup Galo’s jaw with his bare hand. “Better.”

“Let me see your other hand.” Galo held his hand out and Lio placed his smaller hand on Galo’s palm. He took his time with it, kissing Lio’s wrist and the base of palm, slowly working Lio’s glove off. Once he held Lio’s bare hand in his own, he kissed the tip of each finger in turn.

Galo lifted his head to see Lio wide-eyed and blushing. He released Lio’s hand to run his fingers over the other man’s neck, shoulders and down his spine. 

Lio shivered under Galo’s hands. He leaned closer to Galo, kissing along his jaw. His hands toyed with the clasp to Galo’s burn sleeve. “May I?” Lio whispered into Galo’s ear, his breath hot.

“Yeah, oh yeah.” Galo agreed quickly.

Lio undid the clasp on the burn sleeve, pressing his lips to Galo’s collarbone before gently easing off the sleeve. Slowly, he ran his fingers over the newly exposed skin. “These are Burnish scars.”

He looked sad. Galo couldn’t stand it, so he pulled Lio close for a kiss that left both of them gasping. When they parted, he caught Lio’s lower lip and pulled lightly. Lio let out a breathy moan. With one hand on Lio’s lower back, Galo rolled his hips up into Lio.

“Ohhh…” Lio made a noise that startled him, judging by the way his hand flew up to his mouth. He ducked his head, resting it against Galo’s shoulder. “Is now a bad time to tell you that I’ve never done this before?”

“What— What do you mean?” 

“I’ve never been, um, intimate with anyone before.” Lio admitted into Galo’s shoulder.

“Oh. But—” Galo felt things slide into place in his head. “But you shoved me against the wall— and the thing with the glove—”

Lio lifted his head, his expression uncertain. “I thought you’d like it.”

“Oh, I did.” Galo assured him. “A lot. Should we talk or--? We should probably talk.”

“I don’t want to talk. I want you.” Lio kissed Galo’s chin. “Please?”

“Okay. Okay.” Gently, Galo scooped Lio up into his arms and set him down among the pillows on the bed. “I’m going to spoil you so much, firebug.”

“Oh no…” Lio groaned. “That’s a terrible nickname. I’m not answering to that.”

“But I called you that when we first met. I don’t see what’s wrong with it. I think it’s a great nickname!”

“You also called me a pyromaniac bastard.” Lio returned dryly.

Galo considered. “Think I’ll stick with firebug.” He ran his hands down Lio’s side. “First things first. We have to get these pants off you.”

“Here.” Lio took pity on Galo and unfastened the multiple, complicated clasps on his pants. With a little help from Galo, Lio shimmied out of them. Before Lio could even start folding anything, Galo tossed them across the room. Galo thanked the heavens (or whatever) that both of them had taken their shoes off at the door, because he didn’t think he could wait while Lio took off his boots.

“You keep throwing my clothes.” Lio commented.

“Well, yeah. They’re in the way.” Tenderly, Galo ran a hand along Lio’s thigh. His legs were long. With his other hand, he reached for Lio’s briefs. (They were black, of course.) “May I?”

Lio nodded and lifted his hips. Galo made short work of removing Lio’s underwear. He heard Lio snort as he wadded up the fabric and tossed it away as well. Might as well make a complete job of it. And then there was nothing to do but look to the naked person in his bed. The naked Lio in his bed.

Still reclining among Galo’s pillows, Lio watched him closely, blushing and uncertain, one hand toying with a stray lock of hair. Lio looked so slender, but Galo found he rather liked the hidden lean muscle on Lio’s bare chest and shoulders. His ribs poked out a little too much, but that wasn’t anything a few square meals couldn’t fix. And, yup, even Lio’s dick looked pretty.

“Galo.” Lio poked him in the leg with his foot. “Take those off. I don’t want to be the only one who’s naked.”

Grinning, Galo hopped out of bed. Since he knew Lio’s eyes were on him, Galo slowly unzipped his pants. He turned, shaking his bootie for Lio before doing a half-dance as he removed his jeans. He kicked those off to join Lio’s clothes. When Galo turned back, Lio watched him intently, any and all embarrassment gone. 

“Tada!” Galo announced as he pulled his boxer-briefs down, letting his dick spring free.

“Oh my god.” Lio exhaled.

“Like what you see?” Galo bounced back into bed with Lio.

“I— Yeah. You’re impressive.”

Galo laughed with an anxious tinge to it. “Should I have warned you?”

They were laying next to each other, but not yet touching. “I’m nervous.” Lio admitted.

“We don’t have to do anything.” 

Lio shook his head. “I want to.”

Slowly, Galo scooted closer, reaching out to pull Lio into another kiss. Lio’s hands tangled up in the back of his hair while their tongues explored each other’s mouths. He let his hands wander over Lio’s torso, feeling for whatever areas caused the other man to gasp into his mouth. When Galo pulled away, Lio whined a little. “Let me spoil you tonight, okay?”

Lio looked flush. “Okay.”

“Tell me if you want to stop or you don’t like anything.” Galo traced Lio’s jaw with his thumb.

“Trust me. You’ll know if I don’t like something.” Lio’s voice only shook a little. “Be gentle with me?”

Lio’s timid request tugged at his heart. “Of course, firebug. I’ll be the gentlest.”

“Mm, I suppose it’s okay.” Lio said in a breathy tone as Galo’s mouth traveled along his jaw. 

“What is?”

“The nickname.”

Slowly, Galo worked his way lower, cataloging every noise that left Lio’s mouth, proud in knowing that Lio made those noises because of him. Lio moaned softly as Galo sucked on the skin at the juncture of his neck and shoulder. He made quiet breathy noises as Galo traced the lines of the muscles of his shoulders with his mouth then kissed across his chest.

“Oh- Oh, Galo…” Lio pressed up into him as Galo pulled one of Lio’s nipples into his mouth.

“Feel good?”

Lio reached down to rub at the side of Galo’s head with his fingertips. “Yeah. Keep going.”

Lightly, Galo captured Lio’s hand with his own. Lio melted into it when Galo pressed his lips to the warm skin of Lio’s palm. Galo watched Lio’s eyes go wide when he took two of Lio’s fingers into his mouth and sucked. He couldn’t help himself and he smiled at Lio’s expression, releasing his hand.

“You’re cute.”

Lio narrowed his eyes. “I’m anything but cute.”

“Dangerous then.” Galo kissed Lio’s stomach.

“Better.”

He kissed lower. “Beautiful.”

“Acceptable.” 

Galo continued, moving toward Lio’s hip bone. “You can definitely kick my ass in a sword fight.”

“That’s true.” Lio answered shakily, his small frame tight with tension. This wouldn’t do.

“We really don’t have to do anything, you know?” Galo sat up between Lio’s legs.

Lio sat up as well, frowning. “Don’t you dare stop.”

“I know, but… I can’t tell if you’re actually having fun.” Galo slid his arms around Lio’s waist, holding him loosely.

“Did I kill the mood?” Lio sighed. “I’m bad at this.”

Galo shook his head. 

“I want to be with you.”

“We don’t have to have sex to do that.”

Lio’s hand glided down Galo’s stomach. “I want to be with you in the sex sense of the phrase.” His small hand found Galo’s dick and gave it a tentative stroke.

“Lio…” He gave a low moan.

“You’re loud.” He gave a firmer stroke. “Obnoxious.” Stroke. “And an idiot.”

“Oh god, Lio…!”

“But you have a big heart.” Lio kissed Galo’s shoulder while his hand worked below. “And you came for me. Twice.”

“Uh-huh… Lio, you… you’re pretty good at that. Are you sure you’re not still Burnish?”

Lio froze, looking at Galo in confusion. “What?”

“You’re setting my soul on fire!!”

Lio burst into laughter. “You’re an idiot.” He punctuated his remark by pressing his lips to Galo’s jaw.

“You have a nice laugh.” Galo thought he might be in love. How long ago had that happened? “You’re a brat. I thought I was supposed to be the one spoiling you.”

“You did say something about that.”

Galo took one of Lio’s legs in his hands and kissed his knee. “I’m gonna make you feel so good, firebug.”

“Uh-huh.” Lio leaned back on the bed. He smiled slightly. “You’re full of big talk.”

“I always make good on my promises, don’t I?”

“You do.” Lio responded seriously.

Galo puffed up at the frank and unwavering tone of Lio’s voice. “You’ll see! Just sit back and let me take care of you.”

Galo took his time working his way up Lio’s thigh with his mouth. Yup, he definitely had a thing for Lio’s legs -- which was probably good considering how much leg he had. “You can put your hands on my head, but I haven’t done this in a while so don’t pull too much.”

“Okay.” Lio’s chest rose and fell faster as his breath picked up.

Galo leaned closer to Lio’s pretty cock, enjoying the last moment of anticipation and giving Lio one last chance to change his mind. Face flushed pink, Lio nodded seriously. Slowly, Galo ran his tongue along the length of Lio’s cock, pulling a drawn out breathy moan from above him, before dipping his head and taking Lio into his mouth.

“Oh!” Lio’s hand found Galo’s head, tangling up in his hair. “I see what you mean now.”

Please with Lio’s reaction, Galo enthusiastically swirled his tongue around the head of Lio’s cock. Lio cried out. Adjusting his grip on Lio’s hips, Galo pulled more of Lio into his mouth. 

“Galo, oh please…” Lio implored as Galo worked along his length. “I need you. Don’t stop, don’t stop! Ah!”

Galo took some time to find his rhythm, Lio’s hand at the back of his head clenching and unclenching. Lio didn’t get louder as he got closer, he simply repeated Galo’s name over and over. Galo continued his attentions, because this was his Lio, because he loved Lio, because he promised and Galo would never break his promises to Lio.

“Galo!” Lio’s voice was high and needy. “Baby, I’m close, I’m—”

Galo hummed his giddy assent around Lio’s cock. Lio cursed in an undignified manner and suddenly he was coming, salty and bitter, down Galo’s throat. He swallowed everything and held Lio’s hips until he finished. When he completed licking Lio clean, he scooted up to drop down next to Lio on the bed.

Lio rolled over, clutching at Galo and pulling him close. He panted as he caught his breath. “You kept your promise.”

Galo grinned. “Pretty good, huh? There’s more where that came from!”

“Mm.” Lio released Galo enough that he could look up at him. His bangs clung to his forehead with sweat in a way that made Galo’s heart flutter. Tracing Galo’s lips with his thumb, Lio asked. “Can I do that for you?”

△△△ Present Day △△△

The air mattress bobbed under Galo as Lio sat up abruptly. Galo let out a sleepy, malcontent sigh. “Lio? Whasrong?”

Lio’s shoulders were tight. “Go back to sleep, Galo.”

“No. You come back to bed.” Galo patted the spot next to him on the mattress enticingly.

Lio didn’t answer.

“Lio?”

“Five minutes.” Grabbing his fuzzy pullover off the top of his bag, Lio unzipped the door to the tent and stormed off.

Galo cursed under his breath and set his phone alarm for five minutes. It killed him not to immediately run after Lio when he was upset like this, but he’d learned that if Lio said he needed five minutes, then he needed five minutes. He sat up in bed, scrubbing at his face sleepily and waiting for five minutes to pass. As soon as the alarm on his phone went off, Galo clambered out of the sleeping bag and stumbled out tent.

“Lio?” he called out in a hoarse whisper. The campsite was empty. He knew what do if he got lost, but he didn’t know what to do if Lio got lost!! “Lio?!”

“Galo.” Sudden movement caught Galo’s eye and he saw what he’d overlooked the first time in the dark — Lio sitting hunched over at the picnic table. Lio put his head back down on his knees, arms hugging his legs close. “Don’t wake the other campers up.”

Galo let out a sigh of relief. His legs felt weak as he walked over to the picnic table and sank down onto the bench next to Lio. “For a second, I thought you’d gone into the woods and I’d really have to fight a ghost to find you.”

“Good thing you had the spicy hot chocolate.” Lio murmured into his knees.

“Can- Can I touch your back?” Galo waited for Lio to nod his head before resting his hand against Lio’s back and rubbing small circles. “Bad night?”

“I told myself I wasn’t going to have any bad nights on this trip.” Lio muttered miserably.

“Aw, firebug.” Galo patted Lio’s back. “You’re doing so good lately. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Lio lifted his head, his lip pursed in an angry pout. “I really wanted this to be a good trip.”

“It is a good trip!” Galo objected cheerily. He scooted closer, resting his forehead against Lio’s. “Because I’m here with you.”

Lio sniffed and threw his arms around Galo, holding him tight. “I had a really nice time today. But—”

“But?” Galo prompted when Lio cut himself off. He wrapped his arms around Lio, resting his chin on top of Lio’s hair.

“If things are good, I can’t stop the feeling that something is going to take them away from me.” Lio’s fingers dug into Galo as he tightened his grip. “I don’t want anyone to take you away from me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” He kissed the top of Lio’s head. “You’re stuck with me.”

“Forever?” Lio asked.

“Longer than forever! It’ll be… Oh, ah, what’s longer than forever?”

Lio nestled closer into Galo’s chest. “Idiot.”

Galo grinned and stroked Lio’s hair.

“Why can’t I just be happy when I have a nice day with my boyfriend?” Lio pondered, his voice coming out muffled. “Why can’t I just be normal?”

Galo rubbed Lio’s back. “You don’t have to be normal all the time.”

Lio fell quiet, holding onto Galo. It felt right, Lio nestled up against him like this. He just wished it could be under better circumstances. This was the kind of bad guy that Galo couldn’t fight and he didn’t like it at all. Maybe he could go back in time and stop the Foresight Foundation from hurting Lio in the first place, but Galo didn’t know where to find a time machine.

“What’re you thinking about?” Lio asked softly.

“Time machines.”

Lio snorted. Then he giggled until he needed to wipe his eyes. “Time machines?” he gasped out at last.

“Yeah!” Galo answered enthusiastically.

“Hush, don’t wake everyone up.” Lio giggled again.

“Yeah.” Galo repeated quieter. “If I had a time machine, I would find little kid Lio and stop Freeze Force from taking you away. But then I don’t know what to do next in my plan. Does that create a time paradox?”

Lio considered this very seriously. “You could leave young Lio at your foster home with young Galo. Then you wouldn’t be lonely either.”

“Very clever. Hiding in plain sight. They’d never find you!! Would we become rebels together in this scenario?” Galo asked.

Lio started to laugh again.

“What?”

“I’m just imagining you sitting on the back of Detroit. You’d better hold onto me tight so you don’t fall off.” 

“I’d get my own bike, Lio! Plus! You have to admit I’d look really good in black leather.” Galo’s heart felt one hundred pounds lighter with Lio’s laughter.

“I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off you.”

Galo needed to figure out where to buy a leather jacket when they got home. “You ready to go back to bed? Come be my little spoon.”

“Just a few more minutes.” Lio tightened his arms around Galo. “Let me hold you.”

“Okay.” Because how could he say no to that? He petted Lio’s fleece pullover. “I like your sweater. I’ve been waiting for you to wear it since you bought it.”

“Thanks. It’s really warm.” Lio sniffled. “And it has big pockets.”

“I had a nice time today too. I liked the stars and I liked your dessert.” Galo said soothingly. “We definitely need to do this again.”

“Yeah.” Lio agreed. “Let’s do this again.”

△△△ Three Weeks △△△

They kissed afterward, long and slow, exploring each other’s bodies with their hands. They had all night.

“Go take a shower.” Galo laughed under his breath when he caught Lio falling asleep.

“You have a shower…” Lio murmured sleepily, then sat up abruptly. “You have a shower. I have a shower all to myself.”

“It’s all yours, firebug. My casa is your casa.”

Lio gave Galo a quick peck on the lips before nearly floating off to the bathroom. After using the bank of showers in the locker rooms back at the fire house for almost a month, Galo supposed a private shower would be enticing. Lio had been in the dessert before that, did they even have showers out there? 

When Galo returned from his turn in the shower, Lio had nearly fallen asleep in a t-shirt he’d borrowed from Galo. Quietly, Galo slipped into the bed next to him. Lio curled up to him, sighing out words that made Galo flush red all over. He desperately hoped Lio would repeat those words when he wasn’t mostly asleep.

As Galo stared up at the ceiling, he let himself think about the thing he’d been hiding from for a while now. He had a crush on Lio. No, he loved Lio. A lot. Lio was everything Galo wasn’t, in a way that made him feel complete now that he was here. He wanted to help shoulder Lio’s too many burdens. He wanted to help fight for the Burnish. He wanted to see Lio smile again because it was the most beautiful thing in all the world.

He wanted to hold Lio like this forever. And kiss him. He wanted- He wanted too much probably. He shouldn’t even feel like this anyway, because…

He wanted to make Kray proud of him, but Galo guessed that didn’t matter anymore, did it?

Galo wrapped his arms a little tigher around Lio who mumbled something that was probably supposed to be words into his chest. “Y’ve snarms…” 

“What was that?” Galo whispered, knowing that he probably held Lio too close. “Snarms?”

“You have nice arms.” Lio exhaled sleepily. He shifted his weight to cuddle up closer to Galo. “They should be around me more.” 

Galo swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat. Someone who didn’t tell him ‘stop being so clingy’, ‘you’re almost an adult, you don’t need to hold my hand’, or ‘I’m sorry I can’t make it to your birthday, Galo, it’s just that I’m so busy right now’. “Lio, what do you think about birthdays?”

Lio lifted his head. “Is your birthday coming up?”

“No. It’s not until May.”

“Good. That gives me time to plan.” With a sigh, Lio settled back down. “I’ve always wanted to learn to bake a cake.”

Galo ran the back of his hand over his eyes, keeping his other arm around Lio. “Just so happens I’ve always wanted someone to make me a cake.”

“Mm.” Lio agreed sleepily.

Galo took a deep breath. “Lio, I have to tell you something.”

“What?”

It was suddenly urgent that Lio know this. “Um. I’m gay.”

“That’s good. You had my dick in your mouth earlier.” Lio commented, still half asleep.

Relief washed over him. Galo didn’t know why it was a big deal, but it was. “Oh.”

Lio lifted his head, scrutinizing Galo closely. 

Galo shrugged, trying to play it cool. “You’re just the first person I told since Kray—” His throat closed up and he couldn’t say anymore.

Lio’s brow furrowed with understanding. 

“It’s just— I’m not supposed to be. Heroes aren’t— Heroes aren’t queer.” Galo’s stomach sank as he remembered all the times he’d hear Kray put strange emphasis on that word.

“Did he tell you that?” Lio asked angrily. “That’s stupid.”

“Hey.” Lio’s words stung.

“Don’t believe anything that monster said to you.” Lio continued emphatically. “You saved the whole planet. You’re a hero.”

“Lio…”

“And you saved me.” Lio added in a softer tone. “You’re my hero.”

Galo wasn’t an eyesore. He was a hero. Lio’s hero! “Come here.” He pulled Lio a little closer, rolling over so Lio was under him. Lio squirmed until he could get a hand free to cradle Galo’s jaw. “Can you say that again?”

“Just one more time.”

“I’ll emblazon it on my heart.” Galo promised.

“You’re my hero, Galo.”

Galo leaned down and kissed him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The FDPP Station 3 was in an uproar when Galo pulled up on his motorcycle the next morning. “You want to go in separately?” Galo asked as Lio slid easily off the back.

Lio shook his head, passing the helmet they’d taken from the station last night back to Galo. “They’ll figure it out. I didn’t exactly bring a change of clothes over to your apartment.”

Finding all of Lio’s scattered clothes had been quite the ordeal. They still couldn’t find one of his belts.

“Galo Thymos! Reporting for duty!” Galo barged in from the garage with his usual bluster.

Everyone froze, staring as Lio and Galo entered the station house together.

“Boss.” Meis nodded, the first to break the silence.

“Boss?” Gueira asked, eyes going between Galo and Lio with a scowl.

“You can’t just leave the station like that, kid.” Ignis warned from the doorway to his office. “We’re responsible for your safety.”

“My apologies. I was with Galo, so I was technically within the rules of the custody arrangement.” Lio returned.

‘With Galo?’ Aina mouthed in Galo’s direction.

“Just let someone know before you take off.” Ignis left it at that and disappeared into his office.

“Well, I have some paperwork to take care of before we head out to the Parnassus.” Lio responded with his usual cool.

Meis held his fist out as Lio walked past. Lio bumped his own fist against Meis with breaking his stride before took the half-set of stairs up to his own office.

Gueira turned to Galo. “You fucked? You fucked!”

All eyes fell on Galo. He took a step backward toward the garage, wondering what would happen if he just drove out to the Parnassus crash site right now.

Remi cleared his throat loudly and held out his hand. “I think this means I win the bet. Everyone, pay up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The joke about Galo knocking off Lio’s earring during their first fight comes from some notes from Trigger staff (probably Shigeto Koyama, the character designer, but honestly I don’t remember). I kind of love it because it implies Lio’s earrings really are just bread tags.
> 
> I like the idea of Gueira being extremely over-protective of Lio. Eventually, Galo and Gueira do manage to bond of their mutual appreciation of Lio and become good pals. They hang out a lot, eat pizza together and get into trouble. But I also see them butting heads frequently because of their personalities. Their squabbles tend to be short-lived because Galo doesn’t have the attention span to hold a grudge.
> 
> I’m so slow at writing spicy stuff.
> 
> Also, I made Galo’s birthday May 24, since that’s when Promare was released in Japan. And Lio’s birthday would be September 17 as the premier date in the US.


End file.
